Squad Goals
by My Wayward Unicorn
Summary: The adventurous adventures of the new Squad Levi. Main character is the man himself - captain Levi. * ON HIATUS *
1. Unravelling the past

**This would be the first chapter:D I hope y'all enjoy. I am very open to oneshot ideas. Let me know what you think!**

* * *

Connie Springer had been bored all day, until he had been assigned by Erwin Smith himself to pick up a file from the archives. It was about a Scouting Legion member called Oliver Lars, who had died shadily a couple of nights ago. There was a thorough investigation going about. Connie hadn't known the man so he wasn't exactly heartbroken about it.

The archives were under the castle, just above the cellars. The room smelled like old paper (the files were treated with mint extract to keep away the paper worms. The smell was actually pretty nice, despite the dust floating in the air. There was an old man sitting by a table in the middle of the room. He cocked his head up as Connie approached.

"Hey", the soldier started, scanning the guy with his eyes. He had really started to look like paper himself. There was a name carved into a dusty sign on his desk: _Hans Keele._

"Mister Keele, I have commander Erwin's direct orders to get him some files. Here."

The old man said nothing, just grabbed the piece of paper. It was an official order signed by the commander. The old man nodded.

"The files starting with 'L' are over there", he stated and pointed with his shaky hand. "Go find your file."

The blood ran from Connie's face. There were mountains of files over there!

"C-Couldn't you come and find the file for me?"

"Tch", answered Keele with a grumpy expression. "Youngsters… you think my old back is in a condition for that? You'll find it. They're in alphabetical order."

Connie sighed and submitted to his fate. He marched to the shelf that was holding the weight of at least five hundred files.

"Great", he said to himself before starting to scan the files with his eyes. Lars shouldn't be too hard to find, right?

It wasn't so difficult when you knew what you were looking for. He found the Oliver Lars file, but as he pulled out it out of the pile he managed to pull a bunch of other files with it. Connie had a bad fit of cough as the dust flew in the air. He cursed under his breath and started collecting the fallen files.

He suddenly stopped with the papers. _Did I see that right?_ Connie blinked and reached his hand for a thick file. It was titled _'Levi'_.

He gulped and looked around to see if Keele was there. The old man was nowhere to be seen. Slowly Connie turned his head back. This very file contained all the information about captain Levi. His own squad leader.

Connie bit his lip. Every detail about the captain's past, right at his grasp. No one in the squad knew shit about it. Only that he had grown up in the Underground city.

 _It wouldn't hurt to just look, would it?_

Connie made a decision. He would take the file to the others and take a look with them. He didn't want to get caught here, snooping on the captain's file. Better do it when everything was safe and sound.

The boy quickly stuffed the rest of the files back to the shelf and hurried away from the archives.

* * *

Eren sighed. It had been a hard day for him, Mikasa and Armin. Captain Levi made sure they stayed fit by making them do hard work at the stables and at the training ground. It's not like they needed to train anymore, they were the Special Operation Squad, but it was good for soldiers to practice every now and then, just to keep the fighting senses alert.

"I am so tired", Armin whined as they made their way back to the boys' rooms. Mikasa yawned and was about to part from the boys, when Jean suddenly appeared from around the corner, a strange-looking grin on his face.

"Guys, there you are! We've been waiting for you forever."

Eren raised his eyebrows. "Waiting?"

Jean nodded, visibly excited. "You'll never guess what Connie found. Come on, all of you."

Eren frowned and glanced at his friends, who merely shrugged and followed Jean. Somehow the boy had a bad feeling about the whole thing. Usually the shit Connie and Jean pulled off was harmless enough, but he got a bad vibe about this one. Call it a sixth sense.

The three followed Jean to the boys' barracks. The room was meant for the guys from Levi's squad, but it wasn't unusual for the girls to pay a visit. Sasha and Connie were sitting next to each other, eyes glimmering with excitement.

"Finally!" the short-haired boy exclaimed. He had an excited grin on his face, just like Jean. Eren noticed a brown paper file on the floor, in front of Sasha and Connie. It was like a holy object they'd been watching for hours.

"What's going on?" Eren asked with caution.

"I found something when I was down at the archives today", Connie said with pride in his tone. He waved the file in front of their noses. "It's captain Levi's file."

Eren felt as his heart almost stopped. The color escaped from Armin's face too, and Mikasa slowly shook his head.

"See, I told you they'd be this way", Sasha snapped.

"This is wrong. You can't do this", Eren managed to say.

"Oh come on guys", Jean exclaimed. "You can't tell me you guys aren't curious at all."

Eren gulped. It was true – he was very, very curious. He had asked Hanji about it once – and the woman had become very serious, saying it wasn't her place to tell about Levi's past.

"If the captain wants us to know about his past, he'll tell us", Mikasa said.

"He never told his old squad either!" Jean protested. "Come _on._ Just a peek. Like how he joined the Survey Corps, I've always wanted to know. We have some really rare information here."  
"Yeah, because, you know. Probably all who knew about it are dead", Eren said sarcastically. He really didn't want to look at that file – but in the other hand, curiosity was burning in his veins like fire.

"Erwin, Hanji and Mike are probably all who know", Armin stated. "And shouldn't it be best if it stayed that way?"

"Levi is basically a celebrity. No one knows about his past. Hell, he hasn't even told us his surname", Connie stated again. "But we have a chance here, guys!"

Mikasa and Armin looked at each other. Eren was struggling in the inside. Should he do the right thing, or should he take a peek…?

Eren grabbed the file from his hands.

"Hey!" Connie exclaimed. The titan shifter kept the file neatly against his chest.

"The information here doesn't belong to us", he stated with determination. He turned around to walk out of the room and return the file to where it belonged.

He was almost out of the door before he stopped.

Eren was curious. So very curious.

"Eren?" Mikasa asked quietly.

The boy squeezed his eyes shut. "Oh, fuck it", he finally huffed. "Let's have a look."

* * *

They all gathered around the small table that was at the end of the room. A lantern lit the papers on the desk as Eren finally raised his hand and opened the file.

On the first page there was simply the basic information. There was a picture of Levi, younger than what he was now, but no more than five years, Eren thought.

"He's _thirty-four_?" Sasha exclaimed with a high-pitched voice. Eren slammed his hand on his ear and cursed.

"He looks like he's twenty!" Connie backed her up. Eren had to admit they were right – Levi sure didn't look like a thirty-year-old. His face had childish features and the corporal's height sure didn't help.

"His exact height is five foot three", Jean scoffed. Eren rolled his eyes – the humanity's strongest was indeed short. It was like shorter people were actually more rude and ill-tempered than others.

"It doesn't state his surname", Armin pointed out. "That can only mean one thing."

"He doesn't know his surname", Mikasa finished for him.

"His birthday is on 25th of December", Sasha said.

"Family information", read Eren, "Orphan, no siblings. Unofficially Farlan Church, deceased and Isabel Magnolia, deceased ."

Levi had lost his family too.

No one seemed to recognize the names, so Eren decided to think about it later and move on for now.

There were also some other mentions on the page. His rank as 'the captain of the Special Operations Squad'.

"Otherwise known as "humanity's strongest soldier", Connie read.

Jean hummed. "Yeah but we all knew that."

"Guess it's official", Eren answered. He quickly scanned the page. There was more basic information – hair color black, eye color blue/grey (Really? Even the official Survey Corps file didn't know if Levi's eyes were blue or grey), skin color white.

"Ready to turn the next page?" Armin asked carefully. Everyone nodded. Eren ignored the sting of guilt in his conscience. If Levi ever found out they were invading his personal files like this…

"A report", Armin stated as he brought the paper closer. It was signed by Erwin Smith.

"Oh", the blond boy's eyes went wide. "It's about Levi's recruitment."

Eren shifted nervously. This was what they wanted, right?

"Read it out loud!" Sasha begged, hazel eyes full of curiosity. Armin gulped.

"This was written thirteen years ago _"_ , Armin started with a surprised tone. " _Military Police had given us a hint about thugs in the Underground city, who were using stolen three-dimensional Manouver Gear. They had more than once failed to capture these thugs, and requested our assistance",_ he read. Not a word was said – everyone was listening to Armin's voice. Their captain's past was finally about to unravel.

" _With the help of the Military Police, we found the thugs in the act. There were three of them, and all were excellent with the 3DMG. After a chase we managed to capture the first two of them, then the last one left",_ he paused here, glancing at his friends.

"I'd bet my balls that they caught Levi's friends first, and then he had to give up too", Jean stated his theory. Eren had totally fallen under his own thoughts. He was trying to imagine a young Levi – twenty-one years old – living a harsh life in the Underground City.

Armin continued:

" _I witnessed the three of them use their 3DMG with skill equal to any of the soldiers in the Scouting Legion. The leader of the three was a man called Levi. Other two were called Farlan Church and Isabel Magnolia. I had to question them about where they had learned to use the gear. Their answer was that it was self-taught. I believed them. I offered them a deal to either join the Survey Corps, or we'd hand them over to the Military Police. They agreed on enlisting."_

The air was filled with dramatic tension.

"Levi was _forced_ to join?" Eren managed to burst out. The others looked just as shocked.

"Well that's something I didn't expect", said Sasha quietly. Armin shrugged.

"Sorry guys that was all on that report."

Eren didn't really know what to think. This was so _wrong_ , but also way too interesting to stop now.

"Oh my _God_ , guys, look!" Sasha exclaimed. "There are photos!"

Everyone moved closer to the picture Sasha was holding.

"These are the cadets from thirteen years ago", Armin breathed out.  
"Look, there are names in the back!" Eren said impatiently. His friend held up the photo so that others could see it, and started reading out the names.

"Squad leader Flagon Darlett", he started, "… Michaela Twist, Edward Eberhardt, Adalwin Lucius, Claudius Hobbard, Anne Valentin, Farlan Church, Isabel Magnolia, Levi."

"So those two are Farlan and Isabel", Eren said, pointing at the two soldiers standing next to Levi. He had to admit – they did not look like soldiers. Farlan Church was a tall guy, seemingly light-colored hair – Eren had to guess, since the pictures where black-and-white – and Isabel Magnolia was a short, lively-looking girl with pigtails, a smile reaching from ear to ear and big, bright eyes.

"I wonder what happened to them", he murmured.

Armin shifted. "The first page said 'deceased'." Eren blinked a few times.

"Guys, look", Connie said. "There are some notes about Levi right here. From… Hanji, and the squad leader Darlett."

"Let's have a look, shall we", said Jean and keenly leaned closer.

" _The thugs assigned for me are a real menace. Their complete lack of discipline irritates me. Magnolia is just a little girl, fourteen, and lacking the judgement of a grown person. Church is calmer than the two others, smart too, but he has an obnoxiously wrong way of saluting. It irritates me. And Levi – now there's a person that one has to be scared of. I was told that today in the training he came in fast – and one of the soldiers tried to show the brat what it takes to survive outside the walls by turning the wooden titan just in front of him. He said he was sure Levi would fall down, but the bastard was fast as hell. He dodged the bullet with incredible speed and sliced the wooden titan's nape."_

Armin finished reading the note. Eren couldn't help but smile at the thought of Levi showing attitude to his squad leader.

"Way to go, Levi", Jean smirked, leaning to his elbows.

"There's a huge difference between a squad leader note and an official report", Armin stated.

Eren picked up the note that was signed by Hanji Zoë.

"I'll read this for you", he said before starting to read out loud.

" _I am very excited about the new soldiers on Darlett's squad. They came from the Underground city, grown without ever seeing the sunlight. No sky above their heads. That's what drove these three to practice on 3DMG – they wanted to get a little higher from the pit they lived. Anyway, a few days ago there was the first training session with these three. Levi, a little rude and cold, woke up my interest. He was holding the blades the wrong way around – it caused some questions among the superiors, but he completely ignored their words. He simply said he'd do it his own way. This was what caught my attention. All the cadets are taught with the same way, same rules, same recommendations. But Levi, Church and Magnolia lacked this education, making it possible to have completely new aspects in the fight against the titans. I will continue watching these three."_

Armin let out a small chuckle. "Hanji sure hasn't changed."

Eren smiled to himself, too. Levi was on the top from the very beginning.

They dug deeper into Levi's file. They stumbled upon another report from Erwin. It was an official report about the 23rd Expedition of the Survey Corps. On top of that there was an unofficial note, also written by Erwin.

"Which one first?" Eren asked carefully.

"I don't really care about the official report. Let's read Erwin's note", Connie said with a gleam in his eyes.

Armin cleared his throat.

" _The expedition didn't go well. We lost too many good men. Including captain Darlett and his squad. The strategy crumbled when the titans got to the third wave – and wiped them all out. The only survivor was Levi._

 _He puzzles me. It wasn't pretty to watch him lose his family, Farlan Church and Isabel Magnolia. Levi committed a total overkill on the abnormal titan who killed them. Completely tore it apart. He has shown more potential than any other soldier I have ever seen, and if he'd start trusting me… we could make a change in this world. Hanji agrees with me. Right now he's grieving and very angry with me, but I believe he'll forgive me – eventually. After all, it was also his own doing. He made a bad choice, and he'll regret it for the rest of his life."_

Armin's voice was quiet now. _"_ Signed by _squad leader Erwin Smith."_

Eren stared at his hands. Little by little, a realization hit him. He remembered running from Annie's titan in that forest. Eren remembered how he wanted to fight, to help his comrades – but what Levi had said to him then and there, changed his mind. He had put his trust in Levi – and chosen to abandon his dying friends.

" _I don't know. I never have. I can trust in my own abilities, or the strength of those who I trust. But in the end, no one knows how it'll turn out."_

Eren now knew – Levi had spoken from experience.

All six of them were quiet. Jean broke the silence first.  
"Well a guy like Levi – we knew it'd be something like this, right?"

Armin nodded. "Yeah."

Eren glanced at Mikasa – the girl had been very quiet during this whole thing. "You okay?" he mouthed. She winced and blinked her black eyes. "Yeah", she mouthed back, giving a reassuring nod.

The official report just told the events of the expedition. It wasn't as interesting, didn't even mention Levi's name. But they all knew what had happened there.

"Okay, look at these. These are _complaints_ ", Armin said with a confused tone. Eren's eyes widened – there was a whole bunch of them. Connie took one and read:

" _Official complaint about Levi, Survey Corps. Complaint is placed by the inquisitor Rainart Adlar. What mister Levi said to the inquisitor is unacceptable: (direct quote) "Fuck you and your shitty fucking orders, you..."_ Connie had to stop reading for a moment to snort. He had to gather himself before continuing: _"… you worthless fucking shitmonger."_

"I wonder what the poor man did to make him so angry", Sasha thought out loud and looked at others. "Theories?"  
"Well Levi was disobeying orders there", Eren pointed out.

"There's like twenty more, guys", Armin said and checked the papers. "… here is a threat complaint. It was placed by a military corporal..." he stopped reading. "Oh."

Jean grabbed the paper from his hands. His eyes widened. " _Direct quote: 'Touch me again, you fucking piece of shit, and I will rip off your arm and shove it down your throat.'_ "

"Hey look, there are more photos here", Connie pointed out, grabbing the papers to his hand. Eren leaned closer. The first picture was about Erwin's squad, that Levi was now apparently a part of. Mike was also standing there, on Erwin's left side. Ten years ago, only Hanji and Erwin had been squad leaders – but Hanji couldn't have been a squad leader for very long. She was gifted, so maybe that was the reason she got her own squad so fast.

The second picture was about Erwin saluting the Survey corps – undoubtedly after he became a commander. Levi there too, now with his own squad.

"It took him a year to become a squad leader", Armin stated as he read the date.

"Impressive, but not surprising", Eren murmured.

"Look, guys!" Sasha exclaimed, picking up a new paper. "It's his psychological evaluation!"

Eren picked the papers up and squinted. It was a paper full of questions, and the answers were written with small, sharp letters.

"Levi's handwriting. He had to answer to all of these questions."

"Read it!" Connie grinned. Eren glanced at him and cleared his throat.

" _Have you had trouble sleeping in the past six months? How much sleep do you approximately get in one night?"_ Eren read the first row. "And he answered… _'Yes. I sleep 2-4 hours a night.'_ "

"Woah", Sasha breathed.

"Do you think he still has insomnia?" Connie asked. "I mean… that test was like ten years ago."

"I think he does", Armin said slowly. "It's not like things like that can just be forgotten. And if you ask me, Levi isn't exactly the type who goes to therapy."

Eren couldn't agree more. In all the time he had known Levi, he had noticed that the man never talked about how he felt. He was always behind that emotionless mask of his. Eren now realized that it was the man's own way of coping with the countless losses he must have suffered throughout his whole life. Levi had suffered – just like all of them. Eren realized that the captain had probably had a very similar childhood than the three of them. They had stopped being children a long time ago – way too early. And life in the Underground city must have been hellish. Eren himself had always hated the walls – he felt like a caged bird. But to imagine being forced to live underground, never to see the sunlight or the stars... the thought was a nightmare.

" _Do you think you had a happy childhood?"_ Eren read the next question. "And he answers… _'Don't ask stupid questions.'"_

Eren smiled – just a little. If the question hadn't been so serious, Levi's answer would have been funny. Of course he didn't have a happy childhood – he was an orphan born and raised in the Underground City.

" _How would you describe the relationship between you and your parents?"_ was the next question. " _'None of your business.'"_

Jean smirked. "I'm getting a slight feeling that he didn't actually want to do to this evaluation thing."

" _Do you ever have nightmares?"_ Eren read. " _'Hell no, I dream about flowers and butterflies."_

"Did he actually pass this evaluation?" Connie grinned.

" _Do you consider yourself depressed?"_ he read the next question. Levi's answers were dripping of sarcasm. " _' No, I always stay positive. I'm a very happy person.'"_ Eren spoke and frowned. _"_ And there's a smiley face at the end."

Connie and Jean snorted, and even Mikasa smiled.

" _If you were an animal, what would you be?"_ he continued, but stopped and looked at others.

"Why the fuck is that relevant?" Jean grimaced.

"Well come on. What did he answer?" Armin wanted to know.

"He answered: ' _What the fuck'"_ Eren said.

"Interesting", said Connie.

"Well, I know what Jean would be", the titan shifter smirked.

"Neigh", said Sasha. Jean gave them almost a levi-like glare.

"There's a question called ' _Do you think you need therapy?'_ to which he answered ' _nay'_ " Eren said, barely holding back his laughter.

The psychological evaluation indeed was entertaining, but most of all Levi's file was quite sad. It was full of reports about expeditions, missions and notes.

"Another set of photos", Eren said and picked up the pictures. His heart started beating faster as he noticed the familiar faces.

"It's his old squad", he said quietly. The photo was taken outside, in front of the familiar castle. Erd Gin, Günther Schultz and Auruo Bossard were standing side by side, with Levi and Petra Ral in front of them. The height difference was ridiculous. Petra was almost laughing, Erd had a calm smile, Günther was smirking and Auruo had a arrogant smile on his face. Levi had his casual, serious, resting expression.

They were all quiet. All of them knew what had happened to them.

The next picture was about Erwin, Mike, Hanji and Levi. They were in front of the same building – the photos were most likely taken on the same day. Mike and Erwin were at the sides, and Hanji and Levi were between them. Hanji was grinning from ear to ear with the familiar glimmer in the corner of her eye, and Eren smiled.

The last picture presented them, the new Squad Levi. Eren remembered the day the photo was taken – it had been sunny and nice and not a very long time ago.

"That was four months ago, right?" Connie asked and Armin nodded. The picture had them all – Jean, Eren, Sasha and Mikasa in the back and Connie, Levi and Armin in the front.

The papers were almost finished. There was one more report left – it was from the expedition where Levi's old squad had faced their ends. Eren almost got tears in his eyes from the memory – but it also filled him with anger. Anger towards the titans.

There were a few reports about Levi's visits to a doctor. Mikasa seemed uncomfortable and Eren shifted too on his chair. It was their fault that the captain had hurt his leg.

"That was it, guys." Armin said quietly. They had gone through the entire thing.

"Well, now we know", Jean said, trying to smile – but everyone was feeling down. Eren didn't really know what to think about it all. He had always wanted to know about Levi's past… but this had been the wrong thing to do. He felt pure guilt pounding in his chest, and when he looked at the expressions on Armin and Mikasa's faces, he knew he wasn't the only one.

"We better go", Mikasa said and nodded at Sasha. They said their good nights and disappeared through the door.

"Hide the file, Connie. Let's take it back tomorrow", Jean said quietly, before climbing to his top bunk. Eren had to make his way to the dungeons.

His steps were heavy, thoughts filled with the things he'd just read. Levi had a family in the Underground city – Farlan Church and Isabel Magnolia. And they died outside the walls thirteen years ago.

He was so sunk into the depths of his own thought that he didn't notice who was walking past him in the corridor. Eren winced and looked at Captain Levi, who was sipping his tea and reading a report while walking.

"Captain", Eren greeted quietly before speedwalking past him. He felt the older man's eyes on drill to his back.

 _How am I ever going to look him in the eye again? I betrayed his trust and he doesn't even know it._

* * *

The next day Eren was up before anyone else. It's not like he'd been sleeping, though. Not one minute – he had been laying there, wide awake, going through the mess inside his head.

He met the others at breakfast, and there was one thing written all over his teammates' faces.

Guilt.

Levi was chatting with Erwin and Hanji, sipping his tea with his own, characteristic way. Eren couldn't bring himself to look at the Captain, but others kept glancing at him. The commander and the squad leaders weren't blind. Or deaf.

"Someone steal all your cookies? Why is everyone looking so fucking grim?" Levi asked as he took another sip of his tea, grey eyes scanning the soldiers. Armin quickly answered:

"We just had a bit of a disagreement, but it's alright. We talked it through."

Levi frowned and Eren felt as his squad leader's eyes turned towards him. He felt like he was boiling inside his skin.

"You sure everything's alright?" the Captain asked suspiciously.

"Of course. Just woke up from the wrong side of the bed", Connie answered. He tried to offer a reassuring smile, but he didn't succeed very well. And Eren couldn't smile. He knew that Levi noticed something was wrong – Mikasa was looking down, hiding behind her hair, and Sasha was picking on her food – not eating a bite. That alone was a warning bell to anyone. The excitement that had been so real the day before was gone with the wind. They were all just feeling guilty for letting down their leader.

Eren escaped back to the dungeons. Levi knew something was wrong and sooner or later he would find out what they had done. What would happen then? He would be so angry… and disappointed.

"Eren."

He stiffened. Eren didn't have to turn around to know who it was.

"Care to tell me what's going on?" Levi asked, walking into his cell.

Eren closed his eyes and lowered his head. He couldn't look the corporal in the eye.

"All of you are acting super weird today. Mikasa hates me, but she brought me _tea._ Connie is a lazy bastard, but he's cleaned almost half of the eastern wing", the Captain continued, sitting next to Eren on his bed. "And I would very much like to know what's going on here."

Eren lifted his head a little, looking at Levi for the first time that day. Still not in the eye, though.

"It's almost as if you were all feeling guilty about something", Levi kept pushing.

"We're so sorry, captain", Eren finally burst out. He kept staring at the floor.

"Eren. Look at me."

Reluctantly the teen turned his eyes to face Levi's. The Captain's eyes were worried, his expression demanding. Eren knew he would have to tell the corporal. There was no point in backing off now.

"Yesterday evening Connie had to visit the archives", Eren started quietly. He felt his voice die out and turned back to look at his hands.

"So he found something else down there, too", the boy said. He was going through internal struggle to continue.

"Eren, you'll feel much better if you'll just tell me", Levi said carefully.

He sighed and turned to look at the corporal in the eye. "He found your file, captain. And he brought it to the barracks so that we could..."

Levi didn't even blink. "So that you could take a look at what I was doing before I joined the Survey Corps?"

Eren let out a humorless laugh. "Something like that."

Suddenly Levi smiled. "That was all?" he asked. Eren was so baffled by his reaction he wasn't sure how to react.

"U-Um… yes?"

"Well thank god, I thought something really serious had happened."

Eren blinked a few times. "But this _is_ serious, I mean… we stole your personal file. We betrayed your trust."

Levi was looking at him with his grey eyes and blinked. "True. But I'm not mad at you."

Eren frowned, confused. "Why not?"

"Because you're all a bunch of brats. And not just that, you're a bunch of _curious_ brats", he said with a warm tone. "Although, you never did ask about my past so I didn't think you lot would be interested."

Eren stared at him. Was he serious? How could they _not_ be interested?

"You could have just asked, you know", he added with a smirk. It was so unlike Levi to smile, that it made Eren almost uncomfortable.

"Would you have told us?" asked Eren. The corporal frowned and was silent for a moment.

"Probably not everything."

"Would you have told us about Farlan and Isabel?"

Eren felt as the captain stiffened next to him. He glanced at the older man. For a moment there was a flash of raw emotions in Levi's eyes. Then he blinked a few times and said:

"Certainly not. Haven't talked about them in ten years."

Eren was unsure what to answer. "It must be hard."

"You know it is."

The boy blinked a few times and examined his fingernails. He knew Levi was referring to Eren's mother.

"I've still got Mikasa and Armin", he replied.

"Yes you do. Now come on", Levi said and stood up. The short man looked down at Eren, who was still struggling to understand why the corporal didn't seem to be mad at all.

* * *

"We're very sorry, captain", Armin said, looking at his feet.

"I know you are, but for God's sake stop acting like it's the end of the world", Levi said with a cold tone. Eren bit his bottom lip and glanced at his friends. They were standing in a hall, gathered there by Levi himself.

"Are you going to report this to Erwin?" Connie asked carefully.

"Maybe. But I'll make sure you're not punished", Levi replied and glared at him. It was amazing how scary a five foot three man could be.

"Now then, you shitty brats. I'm sure you have some questions. Spill them out", said Levi. Eren felt his own surprise being reflected from all of their faces.

"Um", started Jean nervously, "Did you really call the inquisitor a shitmonger?"


	2. Still here

Levi wasn't exactly on a good mood. It was a cloudy afternoon with a chilly wind, and they had been riding all day. Erwin had sent them to help a village, that was apparently under the tyranny of bandits of some sort. They had been in charge of the village, keeping the people as prisoners for at least two weeks now. One of the villagers had managed to escape and make his way to the city. Levi had to admit it was well done from the man. He had informed there were fifteen attackers, and since the village (Population: forty-seven) was full of farmers, they had been defeated by the men quite easily. It was lucky, that the one guy had managed to escape – no one really went to the outer villages to check what was going on unless they had a reason to.

So, Erwin had sent both Hanji's squad and the Special Operations Squad. Suppose this was a special operation, Levi thought. He glanced back at his squad. They were riding quietly, although Eren and Jean kept arguing about something – but nothing exceptional in that.

Levi knew that the sixteen-year-olds were actually all very capable warriors. Mikasa was the best soldier of her own generation, Eren was a titan shifter and Armin was a genius. Connie and Sasha were average on their fighting skills, but still they were a great pair and even though they messed around a little too much for Levi's taste, they were good soldiers. And then there was Jean, of course – who was excellent with 3DMG, and had the best sense of leadership in that pile of brats. They weren't the same as his old squad – even the thought of them caused a painful sting in his heart – but Levi had already accepted them all. This was his squad now, and he was proud of them.

"We should reach the village tomorrow at noon", said Moblit. The man was Hanji's right hand, and very conveniently he had visited this village before, and therefore knew where it was. They would be able to ride for a couple more hours, before they would need to take camp.

* * *

"I'll take the first watch", Levi informed the others. Moblit joined him.

"Are you sure, captain? You should be in your sharpest tomorrow", Eren said, sounding worried.

Levi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Didn't the brat realize he slept three hours in a normal night? Anyway, he was right. This night even the captain would require more sleep than normal.

"Tch", he replied. "I'll wake you and Gisela up in a few hours." He glanced at the woman who was a part of Hanji's Squad, and she nodded back at him. Gisela Berit was a trustworthy soldier, and most certainly would not fall asleep.

About half an hour later, the whole camp was asleep on their sleeping pads, under their thin blankets. The horses were unsaddled and soldered, standing asleep in the shadows. A nightbird was singing in the distance.

Levi pulled the trigger of his maneuver gear, aiming at the nearby tree. He flew through the air, perfectly coordinating his landing on the big branch. Up here he would see everything he needed to see. Moblit stayed on the ground, watching over the sleeping figures so that Levi could focus on the possible outer threats.

With a sigh, the captain lifted his hands on his mouth, breathing hot air to his freezing palms. It was a cold night. He would stay up on his feet on this branch for the next three hours, and he was fairly certain he'd be frozen to the bone by then.

Levi glanced over his shoulder, looking at his sleeping comrades. He couldn't help the flashback that crept into his mind. The sight of his old squad mates, sleeping next to Hanji's, Mike's and Cholris' squad. It had been an expedition, about five years ago.

Squad Leader Chloris had died about three years back, and Levi's own squad… well, it had been like a year.

Levi missed them. He couldn't help it, but he missed them so _fucking_ much. It wasn't like his new squad was a bad one or something, in fact he actually liked his brats.

But still, the thought of Petra's bright eyes and cheer laughter caused his heart to clench. Levi always knew that Petra had been a little bit in love with him, but he had chosen not to return the feelings. At least he had chosen not to show anything. And Auruo… Levi had always found it irritating how the man had imitated the captain's style and behavior, but when it came down to it, the man had been one of the best soldiers he had ever known. And Auruo had always looked up to Levi, been a loyal and trustworthy comrade.

And Günther, that tall bastard, had been a young and a very skilled soldier. Levi would always remember how he would try and keep Auruo in discipline, with or without results. He had been an honorable man and a good soldier, but despite all the bloodshed and cruelty the young man had witnessed, he had managed to remain as a light-hearted human being, who knew how to live a normal life next to the soldier's hard path.

Then there was Eld… he had been the second-in-command of the Special Ops Squad, and had actually been only a few years younger than Levi himself (and still, thirty-four-year-old Levi knew that he actually looked like a fucking brat. He couldn't help it that his features weren't very mature… and it didn't really help that the captain was short as hell.). And after _that_ expedition, Levi had been the one who had to take the news to Eld's lover. He had to close his eyes for a moment. The captain could still remember how the color had ran out of the girl's face, and how she had collapsed against the captain, tears streaming from her bright brown eyes, shoulders shaking in the rhythm of the sobs. Levi had hugged the hysterical girl, tried his best to calm her down.

It wasn't like it was any better with the other families… Hanji and a few others had offered to take the news, but Levi had wanted to do it himself. Petra's father had probably been probably the worst. Levi remembered how the man had tried to come and talk with him when they returned, how excited he had been… How could he have told the man that his daughter hadn't made it? How in the hell was he supposed to tell a man that his child was dead and gone, and they hadn't even brought a body back? Levi had gone to the Ral's house, told the news with a stone expression and watched yet another family collapse down in tears, eyes filled with disbelief that then turned into horror and pain. And Levi's task had been to tell these broken people how it had happened. How their child had died. And why the humanity's strongest hadn't been able to keep them alive.

Not a day went by without Levi thinking about his fallen comrades. Not just his former squad members, but Isabel, Farlan and so, so, _so_ many others. When he looked down at Hanji, he realized how few of the original Survey Corps was still alive. When he thought back to all those years ago when he had joined the Scouting Legion, only four people from that time were still around. Erwin, Hanji, Mike – and Levi himself. They were all that was left. New people came and went, lived and died. But somehow, they were still alive.

It was so unfair, he thought. Of course it was unfair, this fucked up world did that to people. How many times had Levi been outside the walls on a mission? How many times had he returned without the people he cared about? How long would it take for all his friends to go six feet under?

 _Well aren't you a ray of sunshine_ , he thought bitterly. _When did you become such a pessimist?_ Tomorrow he would lead these people to fight, and he would damn well make sure that they all returned alive to the Headquarters.

Levi jumped down from his branch, walking towards Eren. He kicked the boy awake (not too hard, just enough to wake him up). The titan shifter slowly blinked his green eyes open.

"Is it morning?" he murmured.

"No, you dumbass. It's your watchturn", Levi answered, keeping his voice down. Eren was up in a flash, blinking the dream away from his eyes. The captain eyed at the yawning brat, before making his way to his own sleeping bag. Moblit was waking up Gisela, so Levi concentrated on dropping his gear without too much noise. He crawled under the warm fabric and closed his eyes, trying his very best to fall asleep.

* * *

It was impossible to tell how far the day had gone, since the sky was covered by the dark clouds and the sun was nowhere to be seen. However, Levi would guess it was about midday – just like Moblit had predicted. Jean, who had gone to scout ahead, had returned and informed the village was about half a mile away. According to him, there were also some nasty-looking guys patrolling around the place.

Hanji rode her horse closer to Levi's. "There's something strange about this whole situation", she murmured. "What on earth would be their motive to keep a village on lockdown for two weeks?"

Levi shrugged. "Who the fuck knows what's in their little heads? Maybe they just want to rule." Hanji didn't answer, but blinked her hazel eyes.

"We need to start thinking about how we're going to do the attack", Levi said.

"We should send in a spy first", proposed Moblit. "On a stealth mission."

"That's not a bad idea", Hanji admitted. "We need to learn more about how things are in order there. Someone who won't get caught..." The woman glanced at Levi. "Thoughts?"

The captain shrugged with his regular, dark expression. "As you said, it's a good plan. As long as they don't get caught."

Hanji frowned. "Hmm, yes. Who should we send?"

Levi's Squad members were immediately offering themselves. The captain eyed at them all. Mikasa or Moblit could maybe do it. But should they? What if they got caught? Levi found himself getting concerned over his comrades.

"I'll go!" they all shouted. Levi sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Then the captain stood up.

"Shut up, everybody", he growled, glaring at the brats. "I'm going."

Hanji raised her eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

Levi nodded. "I'm small and quick and also happen to know how to deal with getting caught."

His friend nodded slowly. She shrugged and glanced back at her squad, then back at Levi's.

"Levi's going."

The captain ignored his squad's horrified impressions. Were they actually _worried_?

"Be careful, captain", Armin cheeped with his girly voice. Levi rolled his eyes.

"Excuse you, but have you met me? I'm humanity's strongest fucking soldier. I'll be back by dusk", he growled as he removed his gear once again.

"Change into your spare clothes", Hanji ordered. Levi raised his eyebrows.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. If you get caught, no one will know who you are", she answered.

Levi furrowed his brows. "You're probably right", he admitted. Better safe than sorry. He walked to his horse and dug up the spare clothes, (everyone were made to pack at least one set of new clothes in case of an accident) and then walked behind the bushes.

The clothes he had packed were the same ones he had used all those years ago when he was just a kid in the Underground city. He barely never wore anything else but his uniform, but these would do. He changed his white dress shirt into a rougher fabric, white as well. Then he put on his old, brownish-red vest and his little loose, black trousers. He then sat on a rock and slipped off his long boots. Levi grabbed the black lace-up boots that reached a little bit over his ankle. He had always like these shoes – partly because there was a blade attached to the left one. If he'd rub it against the ground, the blade would stick out and he could kick someone's stomach open.

Levi then attached his belt and looked down at himself. It was a bit cold since he didn't have a cloak without the Survey Corps logo, but he would manage.

He frowned at the sky that had started to drop water on them before walking out of the bushes and packing his clothes and gear on his horse. He then turned to Hanji and crossed his arms.

"Happy now, Four-eyes?"

The woman grinned back at him. "You look astonishing, Levi. I'll see if I can find something for you to defend yourself with."

Hanji then brought him three knives she had managed to gather from the other soldiers, and Levi accepted them. He had two knives of his own, too. Levi hid the two he owned into his boots, the rest he attached onto his belt.

Still he felt his brats' nervous eyes on his back.

"If you're not back by dusk, we attack", Hanji said, squeezing Levi's shoulder. The two looked at each other in the eye. Levi could sense her worry, but also trust. Hanji had always trusted him, and with time the captain had also learned to trust her. And even though she was crazy and filthy and impossible, she was also brilliant. And yes, Levi trusted her with his life.

"I will be back", he replied before disappearing into the rain.

* * *

Eren stared at the ground. It was impossible to stay still, though. He shifted all the time, played with his fingers and kept glancing at the direction where Levi had disappeared over three hours ago. He knew that it was still hours until dusk, but he knew that every single on of his squadmates felt the same concern. Not necessarily just for their captain's safety, he was the humanity's strongest soldier after all, but also for the whole mission. If Levi got caught, they would know something was going on. Eren jumped on his feet and started pacing.

"Eren", sighed Mikasa. "Sit down."

"I can't", the boy answered through gritted teeth. "I have to move or I swear I'll explode."

"Are you worried for the captain?" Armin asked.

"Obviously. But also for this whole attack. I mean – aren't you?" he answered, glancing both his friends. How could they just sit around, while their captain was in grave danger in enemy terrain? Not to mention the battle ahead!

Hanji glanced at Eren and sighed. "Eren, calm down. Levi's fine."

"Yeah, probably", the boy answered, furrowed his brows and kept pacing. "But we can't know for sure."

"As he said", Mikasa stated, "he is humanity's strongest soldier."

"Also he's very experienced and knows what to look for", Armin added. Eren knew that they were right, but he couldn't help himself. Not one of his squadmates, not even Mikasa, could try and say they weren't fond of their short and grumpy leader.

"You think commander Erwin would have allowed this?" Armin asked suddenly. "Endangering humanity's strongest, I mean."

"Well, the commander isn't here", Eren growled out.

"Eren, chill", Jean cut into their conversation. "Commander Erwin would want us to trust Levi, obviously."

"Shut up", Eren replied angrily. "I hate sitting on my ass and not knowing what's going on."

Hanji grimaced at him. "You know Levi would be offended from your lack of trust."

"I do trust him!" Eren snapped. "But aren't you worried at all? He's your oldest friend."

The glassed woman turned her hazel eyes towards him. "He is my best friend and yes, I'm worried. But you should know him by now", her serious expression turned into a grin. "That little cleanfreak knows what a stealth mission means, and he's so short and skinny that he'll probably fit through any crack he wants-"

"Hello?"

Eren turned around and towards them walked pair of pale children – a girl and a boy.

"Hanji-san?" the little girl asked, her big blue eyes wide as plates. Hanji walked to the kids, and the others followed. Eren's fists clenched. Where was Levi?

"Levi-kun helped us escape and told us to go to Hanji-san", the little boy whispered.

"Okay, is Levi-kun alright?" Hanji asked with concern. To Eren's relief, the children both nodded.

"He wrote a letter for you", the little girl said and gave Hanji a damp piece of paper.

"Thank you. You've both been very brave", Hanji said and patted them on the head. "What are your names?"

"I'm Rikki", the girl said, "and this is Milo." Eren's heart ached for the children – they couldn't have been more than seven-year-olds.

"Someone give these two a blanket and some food", Hanji commanded, and the two were taken to cover by Gisela. Hanji turned her attention back to Levi's letter. The color ran from her face, and Eren was dying to know what it said.

"I'm going to read this out loud", she said with a grim tone as the soldiers gathered around her.

" _We've been fooled",_ she started, and Eren already felt his heart drop. _"Send for backup – get at least twenty more soldiers. Do not attack. There is an underground sewer system very near to the village. The kids can show you. I need you to meet me there after dusk."_

Hanji clenched her fists. "Dammit", she cursed and gestured Jean, who was the fastest rider, to come closer.

"Jean. I need you to ride back to the city, go straight to Erwin. Give him this. Explain the situation. And take Connie with you – I won't have you going alone."

Jean and Connie saluted. "Roger."

The two were immediately ready to ride. A cloud of dark mood was now hanging over the squads as their two messengers galloped away.

* * *

The waiting hours were pain. Finally Hanji got up and nodded to Moblit and Eren to come along. The older of the two kids, Rikki, came along. She looked a bit better how that her hair wasn't wet anymore and she had some food in her stomach.

"Over here", she pointed out. The four were creeping in the ditch, until they reached a pipe on the dirt wall in their right. Hanji raised her eyebrows. The pipe wasn't very big, Eren noticed. A human would need to crouch to move there.

"Eren, you're smaller than us. Get in", Hanji patted the boy on the shoulder.

"Huh?" he jumped and glanced into the dark.

"It shouldn't go on for too long", Rikki said. "There are bars to block your way to the city."

"I have a candle for you, though", Hanji said, digging up a candle and a tinderbox. Eren nodded and took them, and a few moments later he was crouching inside the rusty, smelly, metallic pipe. The pipe twisted and turned, making the forest disappear from his sight. He turned his head on. There was a stream of water in the bottom of the pipe, and time to time it sometimes deepened and then disappeared into almost nothing. Eren winced when he hit his head to the ceiling – he had to stop his claustrophobic feelings of getting buried alive.

Then the boy gasped shortly. There were indeed bars ahead. They were rusty, but thick – therefore unbreakable by the tools they had there. Eren touched them and then, to his horror, a drop of water fell right on the candle flame, killing the light. He blinked rapidly his eyes before realizing that there was another source of light. On the ceiling of the pipe, there was a small, human-made hole with less thick bars. It showed some night sky above. Eren heard some indistinct speech from above. He then heard his own breath get heavier as he heard rustling sounds from the other end of the pipe. Someone was coming.

Eren squinted his eyes in the almost nonexistent light. Levi's pale face then appeared to the other side of the bars.

"Hey brat", he said with his low, but still smooth voice. He was keeping his voice down.

"Captain", Eren greeted with a smile. Levi looked to be okay.

"They sent you in here, then", he grimaced. "Just don't turn into a titan."

"I won't", Eren promised and blinked. He was eager to hear what the captain had to say.

"Listen up then", the captain said, shifting to a more comfortable position. The light source created ghostlike shadows on his face.

"I've gone undercover. They think I'm one of the villagers."

Eren breathed out. "What? Didn't they notice?"

"They don't count really well. And I've put out a story that I've been very sick until now, and that's why most of the bastards haven't seen me around before", Levi explained.

"They believed that?"

"They did. And as long as I keep a low profile, they'll never even suspect me."

Eren felt concerned for the captain never the less. "What if they find out?"

"Then I'll deal with it. The people of this village are supporting me in any way they can, and if it came down to it, they'd hide me", he said quietly, glancing up with concern.

"If you say so", Eren murmured.

"Now then. I don't know if these dickwads are some weird-ass fucked up bandit clan who decided to take their robbing to the next level, and frankly I don't even care", Levi hissed under his breath. "But there is a shit ton of them. Thirty-six, to be exact. I've asked around and the others confirmed it."

Eren nodded. He would remember that.

"The guy who "escaped" was probably just one of these fuckers. Their plan was to lure us here all along", Levi continued. "Wanted our gear, maybe even ransom."

Eren grimaced. "It sure was good thing we decided to send in a scout, then."

"There are fifty-two normal village people here", Levi continued. "Twenty-three men, eighteen women and eleven kids, not counting the ones I sent to you. They're farmers and hunters, so they don't really know the required hand-to-hand combat they'd need to take down these fuckers."

Eren nodded. "Alright. Do you know if they've killed anyone?"

Levi shook his head. "No, but they're holding the head of the village behind bars. The idea is that when an attack comes, me and a few others go and free him."

"What about the children and elders?"

Levi nodded. "Yeah, there are nineteen of those, who can't take a stand in a fight. Those are the ones I plan to get out of the village through here."

Eren raised his eyebrows in wonder. "Through this pipe?"

"Yeah. Look, there's a keyhole here", Levi murmured and pointed at the bars. When Eren looked closer, he realized that the bars between them were indeed attached to something that could be called a hatch.

"That means I'm going to stay here. I couldn't get out of this village safely, anyway", Levi said with a darker tone. Eren blinked a few times.

"Why not?"

"They were expecting us, weren't they? I can't risk getting caught now – if they realize that the Survey Corps know their plans, they could slaughter the entire village and be on their way", said Levi, watching Eren from under his brows.

The teen gulped. "I understand."

"These fuckers use knives and stolen muskets. A few of them also have stolen 3DMG, and I think they're the highest in command. If it comes down to it, I can always try and steal one, but it would be only in a case I was caught", Levi mumbled under his breath, glancing up to the hole on the pipe now and then.

"See that hole?" he murmured. "That's where all the rain water comes down here. If a guard looks down, they'll spot us immediately."

"A guard?" Eren repeated.

"Yeah. There are ten guards on the streets at all times, and five are always guarding the wire fence outside the village", Levi explained. "There are night shifts and day shifts. There's also a curfew after the sun sets, so it wasn't easy to come here."

Eren nodded. "Got it. One question, though. How did you get past the wire fence?"

"Tch. They're thick", Levi replied. "I slipped through the fence when they were distracted. Got a few scratches, but otherwise I'm fine."

Eren was relieved not hear that. "What about the key thing? You need one for the cell and one for this thing, right?"

"Eren, I know how to pickpocket."

The brunet teen breathed out and nodded a few times. "Right. Orphan, Underground City."

"Exactly."

"Okay, what about the exact attack?"

Levi changed his position again. "We'll assume that the backup arrives three days from now. You sent messengers immediately, right?"

Eren nodded. "Yes. Jean and Connie left as soon as we got your message."

"Good", the captain mumbled. "Anyway, we'll give you a sign to attack in three days."

"A sign?"

"We talked about it already. There's a market place in this village. There will be a cart full of hay, and it will be set on fire. That's your cue to come in", Levi explained, lowering his voice. "There's this highground rock within the woods. You can see the whole village from there", he added. Eren nodded, making a mental note on that.

"You should take out the guards at the wire fence first", the captain said. "They are the ones with firepower. You'll need to stealth gank them."

"Okay."

Levi grimaced at him. "I sure hope I can last for three days."

Eren's blood ran cold. "What do you mean?"

"Without lashing out on those fuckers and beating them up is what I mean", he said grimly. "Already two of them have been rude to me. They called me short."

Eren couldn't help but to grin in the dark. "You know you sort of are..."

"Shut up."

Levi glanced up once again, frowning. "I think you'd better go. Hanji is waiting, I assume."

"She is."

"We're done here. See you in three days, brat."

Eren nodded with determination. "Be careful, captain."

Levi didn't answer, and didn't look over his shoulder as he making his way to the opposite direction. The brunet teen turned in the cramped space and started crawling back to where he came from. It was pitch black, but there was only one way to go so Eren felt his way through. Wasn't that hard, really.

It took a long time, but finally he made it outside. Eren gasped in the cold, fresh night air.

"Eren! You sure took your time", Hanji complained. "Tell us everything."

"I'll tell you at the camp", he replied. "Where everyone can hear me."

"You met Levi, then?" Moblit confirmed.

"Sure did."

* * *

 **Hee, the more I wrote this the more I realized this was gonna be a two-shot. It would have been a bit too long otherwise. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Reviews are always appreciated ;)**

 _ **anna1303666**_ **\- thank you, very kind of you:3**

 _ **Supergurkan**_ **\- aw, glad you think so:3 thanks for the follow!** **  
**


	3. And the Men Grew Cold

**Heyy :P So I know it was supposed to be only one-shots, but occasionally, like with this one, I'll have to split the chapters in two. In one chapter it would have been a wee bit too long. Soo... here's the second part. I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Previously on Squad Goals:

 _Erwin sent squads Hanji and Levi to help a village, that's under the tyranny of robbers. They are keeping the people prisoners and only one managed to escape. Captain Levi goes for a stealth mission to scout ahead in the village. Later that day, the others receive Levi's letter where he tell them they've been fooled. They send messengers to get backup. Eren later meets Levi in the village sewers, where they plan out the attack. Captain Levi stays undercover._

.: TWO DAYS LATER :.

Erwin was worried sick. When Kirschtein and Springer had returned, riding like the devil himself was chasing them, he had known something was terribly wrong. According to them, when they had left only Levi had been in immediate danger – but that was already enough to worry about. Erwin knew that the captain was very capable to handle a situation like this, but he still felt worried for his friend. Humanity sure didn't afford to lose him.

And so commander Erwin was now leading thirty soldiers towards the small village at the mountains. Mike was riding next to him, Connie and Jean not far behind. It was their job to tell them to slow down in time, so that the enemies wouldn't hear them.

The two messengers had been up for forty-eight hours straight, and they were beat. Still both of them refused to slow them down. Erwin was impressed – they sure were tough.

"Commander", Jean shouted over the sound of galloping horses. "Let's slow down now and walk the rest of the way. We should run into Hanji in about half an hour."

Erwin nodded and gave the order to slow down the horses to walking speed. He eyed at the terrain around them – rocks, dirt, many different trees – it sure was a great area for hunters, he thought.

Indeed, about half an hour later he could see Hanji and her squad, along with Levi's. No Levi, though. Hanji waved at them, glasses glimmering in the sun.

"Hey there, Erwin", she greeted as he dismounted his horse.

"Updates on the situation?" he asked with a tight tone.

"Yes", Hanji nodded. "I'll explain everything I know so far."

Erwin nodded, walking next to her to the place where they had been taking camp.

"Those are two of the village kids Levi helped to escape", she said, pointing at two children sitting next to Moblit and Gisela.

"Where is Levi?" Erwin asked and looked down at the woman, who answered to his gaze with a concerned expression.

"He's undercover in there. We haven't had a chance to hear from him in two days", she explained. "He arranged a meeting to the sewers down there", she waved her finger vaguely to a direction, "and explained what was going on. Originally it was a stealth mission, and we decided Levi was the best one for it. As he went in there, he realized it was a trap for us."

Erwin froze in his steps. "A trap?"

"To steal our gear, maybe take hostages. The guy who escaped was one of them, and his task was to make sure that you didn't send enough soldiers to beat them", Hanji kept explaining.

"Levi said he'd get the vulnerable villagers to safety and free the village leader when the fight comes. He will give us a sign to come in sometime tomorrow night."

Erwin had started pacing, listening to Hanji's every word. Battle plans were already developing inside his head.

* * *

Levi squinted his eyes in the morning sun. There were no more clouds on the sky. He was making his way to the house across the street he was staying in. The captain was already known to the people of the village – they knew who he was and what he was doing there. Now it was time to plan out exactly what would happen tonight.

"Hey brat, where are you going?" a gruff voice barked at him. Levi knew that they were talking to him. He couldn't help the boiling rage inside of him – _brat_?

Levi stopped and turned around, keeping his head down. He hated every second – he was not meant to be bowing in front of scum like this. He was the captain of the Survey Corps, humanity's strongest soldier. And he was bowing to this shitpuddle.

"Just running an errand for the master of the house", Levi said and nodded towards the house he just came from. The bandit trash bent his head.

"Is that so?" he asked and then frowned. Levi's warning bells were ringing when the guy suddenly leaned closer and grabbed his arm.

"Woah", the reeking fuckwit breathed out. "You've got some serious muscle around your bones. You might be useful at some point."

"Okay", the captain breathed out, still a bit startled. Another two of the fuckers suddenly walked by.

"Everything alright with the shortstack there?" the other grinned.

"Sure, sure", was the answer. Levi was really hoping that the guy would let go of his arm already, because his self-control was pretty much on it's breaking point. He could beat the shit out of these three if he wanted to, but for the sake of the villagers he'd have to suck it in.

"Just look at the muscle on this kid", the cockwumble holding Levi said enthusiastically. The other two shitstacks walked closer.

"Would you look at that", one of them smirked. "Been doing some heavy lifting, kid?"

"Something like that", Levi answered dryly. He didn't enjoy how all the fuckers were like a foot taller than he was.

"But why is it so small?" one of them wondered. Levi's fist clenched, but he forced himself to look down. _Tonight, Levi. Just last this one more day and tonight you can fuck up these useless sacks of shit._

"Could it be a threat to us?" one frowned.

"Nah", the other answered. "He's way too small. Look at the bastard. Didn't drink enough milk as a child."

Levi was counting slowly to ten inside his head and he did it over again once he got to ten. Meanwhile the shitstains kept spewing their shit at him.

"We should totally fight with this one!"

"You think you could keep him one arm away?"

"I certainly could lift him with one arm!"

Levi gritted his teeth and breathed some air out. "I should be on my way now", he managed to grunt out and looked down to avoid giving the bandits some stabbing glares. It could make them mad.

"Nah, come on", one of the fuckers smirked. "Let's have a few rounds."

"Don't you think it's a bit unfair?" Levi asked innocently.

"He is a bit too small to fight seriously with", he admitted. "But come on, I haven't beaten anyone up in ages."

Levi closed his eyes for a moment. These people were asking for a fight. It wasn't his fault, for once. But should he fight or should he do just refuse? He would definitely get beaten up he didn't fight back.

The other bandits went a bit further away. Some other villagers had stopped to watch and so had a few other bandit patrollers.

"Come on then, shortie", the fuckwit grinned. "I'm going to give you the first hit for free."

Levi raised his brows. "No thanks", he answered.

"Really? Well, suit yourself", was the answer. The bandit raised his hands to the basic fight position. Levi did the same, bringing his clenched fists to the front of his chest, taking a steady stand in the dirt.

The bandit grinned once again, showing his reeking, yellow-and-black teeth. Then he grunted out in bloodlust and dashed forward. Levi almost raised his eyebrows. This was ridiculous.

When the bandit's fist was a second away from his face, he ducked and kicked the guy in the stomach. He heard a loud 'uuuf'-sound leave his opponent's lips and watched as the guy fell to the ground, coughing and catching his breath.

He was spitting through spitted teeth, and Levi felt the other bandits laugh at him. The villagers were watching the fight with both hope and worry in their eyes. Levi shared their feelings – he couldn't help he was enjoying when he got to hurt these pisspuddles. He would maybe have to hold back, though – just as he was doing right now. Just one kick to the stomach when he could have beaten the shit out of this guy.

"I'll show you-" the man grunted out, but Levi was tired of his shit. The captain dashed forward and with a quick roundhouse kick he knocked the man out on the ground.

"Damn", the bandits whistled. "Come on, Gellert, get the fuck up!"

"He got beaten up by that little haystick!"

"Are you kidding me?"

Levi glared at the unmoving fucktard, before nodding to the guy's friends. He slowly started making his way out of the open. The man couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved when a few bandits were staring after him. He sure hoped he'd dodged the bullet.

"Levi", one of the villagers, a young man called Lucian, patted him on the shoulder. "Aren't they going to realize who you are? I mean, you used military-taught techniques, right?"

Levi scoffed. "Who said I was taught to fight in the military?"

* * *

That night, Levi sat in front of a furnace, drinking a cup of tea. He had been living with a pleasant family for three days now, and they had been honored to offer him a place to sleep. The night they had all been waiting for was only five hours away. Levi had been concerned that the way these people gossiped would end up being the death of him, but apparently they knew their business. The shitstacks, as Levi liked to call them, didn't suspect a thing. Their leader, however, was getting rather impatient. They had thought that the Survey Corps would have arrived immediately.

Levi stared into the flames when Abel, the family's eight-year-old son along with her five-year-old twin sisters and their three-year-old brother Remus rushed to sit next to him.

"Levi-kun, could you _please_ show us a magic trick again?" Abel begged with his bright virid eyes wide open.

" _Pleeeease?"_ asked the twin girls in unison. The fire created an orange halo around their hazel curls. The family's mother, Moira, was smiling widely at them. Levi sighed before pulling out a coin.

"Just one", he said and showed them the silver coin. He saw it's shiny reflection from their huge, bright eyes.

"You can see this coin, right?" Levi asked with a dramatic tone. All four kids nodded with determination and excitement. "It's right here in my fingers..." he lowered his voice, twisted his fingers a little, making the coin disappear "and now it's gone."

The kids laughed in awe. "It's there..." Levi teased, rolling the coin back to his fingertips, "and then it's gone."

They tried to follow the movements of his long, bony fingers as closely as they could, but still couldn't figure out how he did it. Levi rolled the coin back to his fingers for one last time, before tossing to Abel.

"That was amazing, Levi-kun", he grinned.

"Time for you to go to sleep", he murmured.  
"Couldn't you tell us a story of how you killed titans?" one of the twins asked.

Levi looked back into the fire. "I'm afraid those would be too scary for bedtime stories."

"What about the shadow animals?" Remus asked. Levi sighed patiently.

"Fine. Let's do ten shadow animals, and then you go to sleep?"

"Yes!" they all exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Promise?"

"We swear!"

Levi shifted on his chair, watching how the light of the fire danced on the wall. He raised his hands, and twisted his fingers into a right position.

"That's a rabbit!" Abel giggled.

"Correct", Levi replied as he changed the position of his fingers. "How about this?"

"Is that a duck?" asked the skinnier of the two twins – Frederica, if Levi remembered her name right. He was quite sure the other one was called Filippa.

"It is a duck", Levi admitted. The third shape appeared on the wall.

"A goat!" the kids guessed in unison.

Levi made them a fox, a stag, a rooster, a spider and a horse.

"How about this one?"

He used both of his hands to form another shadow.

"That's a snail", giggled Remus.

"Alright, last one", Levi promised before creating one last shadow.

"Wings of freedom" Abel said quietly, when he saw the dove that was now dancing on the wall. Levi lowered his hands.

"Damn right", he said quietly. "Tomorrow you'll all be free, I promise."

The children nodded and kept staring at him with those huge, bright eyes of theirs.

"Will you and dad fight tonight?" Filippa asked. Levi nodded at her.

"Me, and both of your parents. Aunt Teresa will come and get you when it's time."

They all nodded. Abel tried to look brave, but Levi could see his bottom lip tremble.

"You're humanity's strongest soldier, right?" Abel asked.

"And you will keep mommy and daddy safe?" added Frederica. Levi looked at the four in front of him and sighed, kneeling in front of them so that his head was in the same level with theirs.

"I will do my best. And I think my best is pretty good, eh?" he flashed them a smile. Suddenly Abel wrapped his thin arms around Levi's chest, and Remus and the twins followed their big brother's example. Levi was slightly surprised, but pulled the four kids closer and hugged them back.

"Now then", he said. "You promised me you'd go to sleep."

"We will!" the exclaimed. "Good night, Levi-kun!"

"Good night", he answered and watched as the children ran to the other side of the house into their bedroom.

Levi took a sip from his now cooled down tea and watched from the corner of his eye as Moira and the family father, Alarick, walked to him and sat next to him by the fire.

"Not long now", Moira said quietly and squeezed Alarick's hand.

"It'll be fine", Levi murmured. "Survey Corps backup forces are here already, I'm sure of it. The only thing we'll have to worry about is not dying, the soldiers will deal with the rest."

"We want to fight, too", Alarick grunted out and turned his bright blue eyes towards Levi.

"I know. Just don't die, is what I'm saying", Levi replied as he took another sip.

"You said you had a good plan?" Moira asked with a low tone.

Levi smiled into his cup. "Yes, I do."

* * *

Levi crouched behind the barrels. The leader of the shitlords was sleeping in the village leader's house, and there were two guards right on his door at all times. His hiding spot was just around the corner. He slowly raised his hand to give a sign to the five men, who were crouching right behind him, rubbing some rum to their clothes.

Two of the men walked into the open, pushing each other roughly.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, huh?" the other one blustered.

"Hey! This is the curfew time, you maggots!" the guards shouted and took big steps towards them. Levi nodded to the rest of the guys, and they quickly made their way to their friends. They bandit guards were getting really pissed and yelled and pushed the "drunk" villagers.

"I'll give you a lesson, boy..."

"What the bloody hell is going on?" an angry voice rumbled from the front door of the house. Levi took a deep breath. That was their guy, and now was his chance. As the leader's voice thundered angrily all over the yard, Levi quickly and quietly sneaked to the porch and straight inside. The villagers had started to run away in their "drunken" state, and though the bandits were rough and threatened to do all kinds of things, Levi knew that they were merely threats. They would end up in the cell, but that was the plan. The village leader needed to know what was going on.

It was dark inside. It took a while until his eyes adjusted, but then he recognized the familiar gear on a chair next to a huge bed. Levi quickly groped the straps to his hands and ran to the window. He opened it carefully, without making a noise, and dropped the leather straps. He could hear the leader bandit finish his roaring, and the captain's blood ran cold as the guy's heavy steps were approaching. There were no swords, unfortunately. Levi grabbed the rest of the gear and quietly as a mouse, hanged from the window until the metal hit the ground almost without a sound. He managed to jump down and push the window shut just in time.

:.:

Levi sat on the ground under the window for a few seconds, catching his breath and waiting for his new accomplices, who should arrive anytime now. He heard the shitwad fall onto his bed inside the house. The guards would be back anytime now, but the crucial part at this moment was to keep quiet.

"Captain Levi?" a quiet voice hissed.

The short man turned his head and saw the two fifteen-year-olds who he had chosen for this part.

"Quiet but quick", Levi murmured under his breath as the boys grabbed the gear. Levi carried the sword casings in his both arms. Together the three skinny figures disappeared into the shadows of the narrow streets.

" _Not long now, brats"_ , Levi thought as he glanced at the forest, that was looming in the distance.

After managing to hide from three more bandit guards, they sneaked into a house that belonged to other of the boys. There was a hatch on the floor that lead to the underground basement. It also happened to be the base of this whole crew.

Levi glanced at the ten people standing in the room. And grabbed the equipment the boys had been carrying.

"You made it!" on of the guys sighed in relief.

"Marius is in place? And the five others?" Levi asked as he started to tie up the straps around him.

"They've been there since afternoon", someone answered.

"Great. When I'm ready, we'll move on to the next stage", he said. "You're ready already, aren't you Lucian?"

"I've been ready since my birth", the young man grinned.

"That's the spirit."

:.:

The keymaster's house was luckily far away from the leader's. And, it was a high, three-floored building, which was exactly why they had planned the order of this plan the way they did. Levi was happy to be in a maneuver gear once again – even though he had no swords. He had to admit that the whole situation caused him a huge déjà vu-experience. His clothes, his role, his swordless gear… it was like he was in the Underground City all over again. Except this time he was leading a rebellion.

Levi nodded to Lucian and shot himself up on the keymaster's house roof. There was a window on the roof – and that window was the thing that made all of this possible. He pulled out a nail and a pin from his pocket, and went to work.

The whole plan was about to burn down, when an unseen guard appeared from behind the corner. Levi rolled behind the chimney with his heart pounding, and listened to the bandit guard's steps.

"Move, move, move", Levi grimaced. The bandit guard took his time, several painful minutes, but finally he disappeared out of sight. The captain let out the breath he'd been holding.

The lock was a tricky one, but Levi got it open. They needed actual keys, for lockpicking was not reliable. They had a backup plan for everything, but luckily none of them had been needed yet. It was all going so well it was almost ridiculous.

Levi dropped the pin on the ground as a sign for Lucian that he had made it inside. The younger man was currently hiding behind a stack on boxes. Levi made sure his maneuver gear hooks were properly attached to the chimney, before he went inside.

He could hear the keymaster's snoring all the way upstairs. Levi wrinkled his nose at the smell – this person sure wasn't the cleanliest one…

The captain knew he had to move carefully and quietly not to make a noise. He needed to be slow in his moves to not wake this pig up…

Levi made it to the next floor, and that's where the shitty bandit was snoring. The captain got slight nausea from the smell of alcohol and sweat, that was floating around the guy. The fat pig had a rough beard, a scar across his face and a big nose. Levi noticed to his horror, that the ring of keys was attached on the bastard's belt – and the belt was still on him.

The captain cursed his luck, but still crept closer. He would have to try. Judging by the amount of liquor bottles around him, he'd be sleeping like a baby.

Levi rubbed nervously his hands together and twiddled his fingers before raising his sleeves and finally leaning over the snoring guy. A rotten breath hit his face when the man's mouth opened in his sleep, and Levi had to cover his mouth and nose to stop himself from gagging.

The captain couldn't help it that the keys clinked and jingled against each other. To Levi's horror, the man suddenly changed his position and turned to his stomach. The keys were under him, now.

 _How the fuck am I supposed to get them now?_

Levi grimaced. He gently grabbed the belt and slowly pulled the leather so that the keys would eventually show up.

"Mama!" the man suddenly cried out in his sleep. It startled Levi and he stumbled backwards a few steps, hitting a bottle on the floor with the heel of his shoe.

Levi grimaced again, but didn't give up. He approached the man once again – the keys were almost in his grasp.

That's when the man's small, raisin-colored eyes shot open and he grabbed Levi's arm.

"Mother! I'm so sorry!"

Levi was frozen still. Should he knock the guy out?

"Mother, will you forgive me?" the guy whimpered on.

"I am very disappointed in you", Levi said with a harsh tone. "You'll have to do better than this."

The bandit started sobbing. "I'm so sorry, mama..."

"You never went to sleep when I told you to. You can still redeem yourself if you listen to me now", Levi put his words out carefully.

"I will do whatever you say, ma!" the man's slurry eyes brightened.

"Go to sleep."

"Yes, ma!"

The man obeyed and put his head on the pillow. "Wuv ya, ma", he slurred before his breath took a steady, sleepy rhythm. Levi needed to a catch his own breath before he finally grabbed the keys and pressed them against his chest.

Very slowly and very quietly Levi sneaked back upstairs. He shot the cables to the chimney with a clank that was a little louder than he expected, but as he froze to place and listened, there was no commotion.

Mission number two, achieved. Levi quickly glanced around for guards, then slowly jumped next to Lucian.

"Got them", he murmured.

"You're the best", Lucina giggled under his breath and grabbed the keys. "This is the one for the sewers", he breathed out, as he threaded the key out of the ring. He grinned and squeezed the rusty key in his fist. Levi felt victorious too, but he knew that now it was when the real shit actually started.

"You know what to do", Levi murmured. Lucian nodded, and disappeared into the shadows.

Levi sneaked in the narrow alleys, making his way to the sheriff's office that also held the cells. The key ring was hanging on his belt. There was a bandit guard in the front, of the sheriff's office, slowly walking around the building. The captain quickly glanced inside and saw one more guard sitting inside.

That was quite alright, though – they didn't really need to be stealth anymore. As long as all the children, elders and one pregnant lady had been escorted out of the village to the sewers, the attack could truly begin. Right now a few of the good guys were aiding Lucian to get the vulnerable ones into the sewers. They would need to knock out a few guards, not to much fuss, but then it should be fine.

Levi sneaked around the corner, and practically walked into the arms of this huge bandit guard. He let out a sharp scream and pulled out his knife.

"You're breaking the curfew, you little rat!" he growled.

That's when Levi's inner captain woke up once again. He glared his opponent with cold, narrow eyes. This guy had no idea what he was getting into.

"I'll teach you-" the guy began, but Levi didn't want to hear any more bullshit. He ducked away of the massive guys hand, grabbed it and then, using his knee, broke the man's arm. Before the guy had a chance to scream, Levi had slit his throat with one of the knives that had been hanging on his belt (those knives had been hidden away in the basement for a few days, since officially the villagers weren't allowed to have any weapons.).

The man's limp body fell to the ground. Levi wiped the knife to the guy's shirt and wrinkled his nose. It was time.

Levi walked a few block further till he reached what he was looking for. The barrels. He kicked the nearest one, and hissed a command.

"It's time?"

"It's time."

Levi threw the keys to the man, who climbed out of the barrel. Four others followed and they made their way towards the sheriff's office. Levi would join them in a minute, but he had a task first.

Levi was using the 3DMG with it's maximum speed, and he whirled around the corners and alleys with the wind flowing through his hair. He had used most of the days by examining these streets.

The market place was right ahead. In the middle, there was a cart full of hay. Levi knew, that under all that hay there was a ten-year-old kid with a tinderbox. The captain whistled loudly, made sure that Marius had heard him, and then he had to run away from the three bandit guards who had realized he was up on the roofs.

"Catch me if you can", Levi grimaced. "Come on and chase me."

While the guards were distracted by Levi, the little boy Marius crouched out of the haystack, grinned at him with his hair full of hay and lit a match. He threw the burning stick into the cart, then lit another. Levi didn't stop to look as the cart started flaming.

The bandits had no chance at all to keep up with him. Some of the sleeping ones had woken up, too. And seemed to be quite eager to catch him. Levi decided not to lead them to the sheriff's office – he was sure that the guys could take out one guard.

Levi glanced towards the forest and felt exultation blossom in his heart. He could see his comrades. The fence guards had been wiped out and now the soldiers were all heading towards the village, maneuver gears glimmering in the night.

He raised his eyebrows as he saw a geared up bandit show up from around the corner. He knew there had been three stolen maneover gears in the village, and since he was wearing one himself, there were two left. Levi grimaced as the third one with gear showed up in front of him.

 _I kill titans, you little dickweeds. You actually think you can get me?_

Levi pressed deliberately and with quick reflexes a few buttons on the handles he was holding. The cables suddenly went limp, letting Levi drop through the air. His chasers almost bumped into each other and they actually managed to get their cables in a knot-like mix.

 _Amateurs_.

Levi almost touched the ground as he pulled himself through the air. Leaving the _amateurs_ behind, he rose up high once again. The captain noticed how the now free head of the village was leading an angry group of farmers through the market place.

"Captain Levi!" he heard a familiar voice behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, and saw Eren landing right behind him. "You alright?"

"Obviously I'm alright", Levi grunted. "Do you mind if I borrow a pair of blades, though?"

"Of course not", Eren replied. The captain shoved his handles to the blades, that were hanging in Eren's sword casings. He glanced over his shoulder to see how the fight was going. They would win, no doubt.

"Come on then, brat", said Levi and jumped back in the air. Swirling and jumping, flying and whirling in the air, Levi knocked out at least four asshats. The fight was practically over by now, and not a single villager had died. There were a few injuries, but nothing lethal. The fuckers, in the other hand, had almost all been killed. There were seven survivors, along with the leader and the keymaster. Levi wrinkled his nose in disgust as he walked past the prisoners. They were spitting threats and curses to Levi, who had tricked them quite successfully. They were taken to the cells.

To his surprise, he found out that commander Erwin was present. He had lead the backup troupes in himself when he had heard the situation. When the fight was over, the tall man had walked over to Levi and squeezed his shoulder.

"You alright?" he had asked.

"Never better."

"Good work here."

"I'll give you a full report later. It's been interesting", Levi said with a lighter tone. The ones who had escaped the village were now returning, along with Rikki and Milo – and Levi's horse. And his clothes.

"Thank God", he murmured.

* * *

Levi changed back to his soldier uniform in a locked bedroom. He got back his own Maneuver gear and it felt amazing. The captain stepped outside feeling like himself once again. Erwin had apparently been waiting for him.

"It's time we returned home", the commander stated shortly before calling the Survey Corps on the village market place, that was the only place where there was enough space for everybody. Levi walked to Erwin's right side. He didn't usually like standing next to him because their height difference was even more visible then, but his position as the captain often required it. Hanji and Mike were standing on Erwin's left side. The Survey Corps troupes were all behind them, including Levi's own squad. They seemed quite happy to see their captain, which made him quite touched.

Every villager was now gathered in the market place, facing the Survey Corps troupes. The head of the village, now free and well, was obviously speaking for all the people.

"I can't even begin how thankful we are", he started with a firm, warm tone. "This village was under terror and we were horribly humiliated and mistreated by that scum. You saved us, and we have to thank not especially Captain Levi for his undercover efforts." Everyone's eyes darted to the short man, who simply nodded with a serious impression.

The Survey Corps answered by saluting. Commander began his own speech about the importance of freedom and shit like that, and the troupes kept saluting.

Levi noticed a little kid dashed forward from the crowd. It was Remus, and he was running with his short little feet straight towards Levi. He looked at the kid in shock as he wrapped his arms around the man's leg.

Erwin's speech never stopped, but the captain knew that everyone was looking at him. He could hear his squad giggling and whispering. Levi sighed and dropped knelt next to the little boy.

"Hey, Remus", he whispered to the boy's ear. "Want to salute with me? Like a real soldier?"

The boy's eyes lit up and he nodded multiple times after Levi's words. The captain straightened up brought his right fist to his chest and his left arm behind his back, and watched as Remus mimicked him with pride and stood up as straight as he could.

* * *

They had been riding back home for about an hour. It had taken a long time to leave, since pretty much every villager had wanted to personally say their goodbyes to Levi. His squad was very proud of their captain, and Eren knew that Erwin and Hanji were too. And the fact that the commander himself had shown up here just proved how much the snarky little cleanfreak meant to the people close to him.

Eren sure was happy the captain was alright. Over time he had grown fond of him, and would never wish any harm on him. Sure, the man was rude, cold and strict, but he was also understanding and wise – and even though they weren't on the friend-territory yet, Eren trusted Levi with his life. And that trust was a bond not easily achieved.

* * *

 **So I guess that can be read as Ereri if you squint really hard, right? Anyway, you can choose yourself how you want to read it. I suppose I ship it too a little... :) Only ship I'm going to use in this story is Connie x Sasha, but it's basically canon anyway :^) Also, I hope I didn't over-shoot it with the way Levi was handling the children? But I always thought that he'd be gentler and actually pretty cool with kids, you know? Hopefully you liked it ;-; Reviews really appreciated!**

 _ **Supergurkan**_ **: I appreciate a follower like you and I'm so glad you like it. Hopefully I won't disappoint you with the future chapters :)**


	4. Snow and shit like that

Armin was awake earlier than other boys in the barracks. He was supposed to run an errand for Hanji – she needed him to deliver some experiment results to the archives. He was tired, but didn't mind being awake early. It was always calm in the mornings, when no one else was awake. The sun had started rising from behind the walls.

He reached the courtyard before realizing he wasn't alone.

"Hey, Arlert", a familiar, rough voice grunted.

Armin had stopped dead in his tracks and turned around. Fear started clenching his stomach. _Not now, please_.

"Hello, Ansel", he answered, biting his bottom lip. He could see the other man's shape in the shadows.

Ansel suddenly rushed towards him and grabbed his arm, pulling Armin to the shadows.

"Hey-" his breath got stuck in his throat when Ansel threw him against the wall.

"Here you are, sneaking before sunrise, taking some errands, eh?" he asked with a fowl tone.

"What's wrong with that?" Armin asked, panting against the wall.

Ansel scoffed. "You're pathetic, you know that?"

The golden-haired boy didn't answer, he just stared at the man in front of him. Ansel was a bully, just like the boys back in Shiganshina. Unfortunately, he'd never been the one to put it up against the bullies.

"You're supposed to be a soldier", Ansel growled. "You look like a haystick. You'll be doing nothing but putting your friends in danger."

 _That's not true,_ Armin wanted to say. But he knew that answering would just provoke the guy. Besides, he wasn't completely wrong. Armin's mind wandered to that day when Eren had saved him from the maw of a titan – and gotten himself eaten in the process. Of course, he had transformed into a titan and survived but Armin remembered the feeling so well. The feeling that your best friend has died – because you were too afraid to move a muscle.

His thoughts were stopped when Ansel's fist connected with his face. Armin gasped for air, when he pushed his knee between the boy's ribs, stealing away all his oxygen.

"Stop", Armin breathed.

"I want you to fuck off from the Survey Corps", Ansel murmured. "You're not worthy of being in Levi's Squad. Hell, you're not even worthy to be a soldier."

Armin didn't even try to fight back. He never did. The bullies always stopped eventually, letting him go about his own business.

Suddenly he felt the weight disappear from his ribs as Ansel staggered backwards. Armin watched in awe as captain Levi demonstrated his right hook to the bully.

Armin saw the horror in Ansel's eyes – the captain was probably the last person one would like to get caught by. Levi's eyes were flaming with anger as he grabbed the younger man's neck and pushed him against the wall, hitting the guy's head in the process. Ansel grunted in pain and fear and stared at the smaller man in absolute horror.

Levi's voice was dripping with poison.

"You touch one hair in my soldiers' heads, I'll cut off your tongue and feed it to you."

Then the captain threw Ansel to the ground. The man glanced back at him with a horrified look, before staggering to his feet and disappearing to the corridor.

Armin slowly got up. "Thanks", he said quietly.

Captain Levi turned around, anger slowly fading from his eyes. "I hope you don't let the shitstack's words get to you. I'll make sure he gets a suitable punishment."

Armin nodded slowly.

Levi narrowed his eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I'm sorry", the boy whispered.

"Why are you sorry? It's that sad excuse of a soldier who should be sorry."

Armin gulped. "But he was right. I'm just on the way."

"Armin. Look at me."

The boy raised his head and looked at his superior officer, who had a serious expression on his face.

"You do realize that you're in my squad for a reason?" he said, raising his brows. "You're the smartest recruit this HQ has seen after Hanji. You have no idea how much Erwin and Hanji value you", he stated. Armin blinked, confused.

"So don't let that fucktard get to you. I bet he'd just love to be in the Special Ops Squad himself", Levi scoffed. "So get your head up, kid. If I understand right, you had some errands to run. And if you feel like it, you can pop by the hospital wing."

Armin was baffled for a second, but then nodded.

"Roger. Thank you, sir."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Levi called his squad to the training field. Hanji was there, too. Everyone seemed quite confused – no one knew what this was about.

"So", Levi cleared his throat. "I was going through some paperwork yesterday, and guess what I found."

He eyed at his squad members with narrow eyes. "I found a report from two years ago", he stated, waving a paper in the air.

"A report about your _carry your friend-exercise._ "

He watched as their faces darkened.

"Oh no", they whined.

"Captain, we can explain-"

"We were really tired that day, alright?"

"Silence!" Levi grunted. "I don't care. We're doing the exercise. It's important. The results of your last exercise were dreadful. I need to know you're capable of carrying your injured comrades if it's needed."

Hanji grinned at the squad members. Levi slowly shook his head. "Disappointing."

"Okay, what do you need us to do?" Eren asked reluctantly.

"First", Levi began, "we'll teach you the right ways to carry somebody. Eren, lay down on the ground."

The boy's eyebrows popped up. "Lay down on the ground?"

"Is there a fucking echo here?" Levi glared at him.

"Okay, okay", the titan shifter muttered and did what the captain asked. Levi walked up to him and squinted at the others.

"Okay. Pay attention you ignorant fucks. Eren here is gravely injured, he's going to bleed out if you don't do something."

"But captain", Connie said. "Eren is a titan shifter. He can't bleed out."

Levi glared at him especially venomously, so he shut his mouth.

"First step is a fucking hug, alright?" Levi spat. "Like this."

He pulled Eren up and wrapped his arms around the taller boy. Eren's face was kind of horrified, but he did his best keeping limp and letting Levi use him as a ragdoll.

"So first you raise your buddy to a standing position", the captain continued. "Then", he grabbed Eren's wrist, "you need to throw their arm over their head while continuing to support their weight with your other hand."

Levi did as he had just explained, before continuing:

"Then it's the challenging part, okay? You have to bend your buddy's waist", he bent his knees "and pull them over your shoulder."

Levi kept a small break. "Now, if it's not too much for you fucknuts to grasp, at the same time you'll have to let go of their waist and grab their leg behind their knee."

Eren breathed heavily as he felt himself being lifted from the ground- also Levi's shoulders were quite sharp – but kept staying as limp as possible.

"Then", Levi continued, "The hand you were holding your friend's wrist with has to be moved to the hand that's grabbing the knee."

This left the captain's other hand free.

"Okay", the captain stated, "We don't want to fuck up at this point so we're going to use our free hand to push ourselves back to the standing position without straining our backs."

Levi placed his hand on his knee and pushed himself to stand up straight.

"Now then. You should adjust your buddy's weight so that it's comfortable enough", Levi moved Eren's weight slightly on his shoulders. "And then you'll have to carry your friend's ass to safety. Over there", he nodded towards a haystack that was on the other side of the training yard. "I assume I won't have to demonstrate."

He then bent his knees a bit. "Get the fuck off my back, Eren", he then grunted. The boy did what he was asked and slowly slided back to ground. Levi straightened himself up.

"Well, don't just stand there", Hanji exclaimed. "Pair up!"

"Armin's not here", Mikasa stated suddenly. Eren was with Levi already, so her next option was obviously Armin – but she hadn't seen the boy all morning.

"He's running an errand for Erwin", Hanji stated. "Never mind that, now. Go with Jean."

Mikasa glanced at Jean and nodded. The boy seemed quite excited…

Levi turned towards Eren and glared at him. "Drop me and you're dead."

The boy nodded and stared at him for a while. "Well? Aren't you going to lay down on the ground?"

Levi grimaced and looked at the ground. "Ew", he stated, but then reluctantly and stiffly laid to the ground. Next to him were Mikasa and Connie.

"Begin!" Hanji grinned and everyone went to work. It wasn't a competition (except oh yes, it was) and everyone tried to remember what they had just learned.

"Remember! Your pair is bleeding and dying so you're gonna have to save their asses. Come on!" Hanji yelled, encouraging them to work faster.

Levi was actually quite impressed with Eren. He had learned the proper technique – of course it might have something to do with the fact that the captain had demonstrated this on him – and it didn't take long until Levi was lying limp on his shoulders.

Eren breathed heavily as he left to stagger towards the haystack. Levi grimaced.

They all walked quite the same pace, but it felt like it took forever. Eren seemed to be exhausted and slowed down a little, but they heard Hanji yell:

"Keep up, Eren! Levi is dying! The fate of humanity is at stake!"

That seemed to bring Eren's willpower back, and he took big, fast steps and went past the others. Levi was kind of proud.

By the time they reached the other side, the captain was quite sure he'd have bruises. Eren was about to drop his ass to the hay pile, but Levi stopped him.

"Just put me down here", he hissed and the boy obeyed. The captain was glad to be back on his own feet.

After Mikasa had quickly carried Jean and Connie had carried Sasha, they were done for the day.

"Fucking marvelous", Levi stated. "Now you know how to carry your buddies. Now get out of my sight and go do whatever you were doing before this."

* * *

That evening the boys were in their barracks and had actually an exceptionally good time. Eren stayed with the others for a long time. Connie was currently doing impressions.

He moved next to Armin and started aggressively sniffing him and they all bursted out laughing.

"Mike!" Eren snorted.

"Hell yes", the shorter boy answered. "Okay, what about this?"

Connie then grabbed a mug that was on the nearby nightstand and started hanging it between his fingers, holding on to the edges. He then narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows.

"Tch, tch", he stated. "The corridor is _not_ clean! You'll have to do it all over again, Eren!"

The others were squirming. Connie's face looked so ridiculous when he did impressions.

He then stood up on his toes and grabbed his eyebrows, stretching them.

"Onwards, children. Bring honor to humanity!" he yelled with a glorious tone.

"Oh no, oh no, stop it", Eren wheezed.

"It's too much", Jean howled, water running from his eyes.

After fifteen minutes, they were done. It was midnight, so Eren had to return to his cell.

"Bye, guys", he breathed as he stepped out the door, but then he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Woah", he stated.

"Look at that!" Armin said with his eyes brightening.

"Fascinating", said Jean.

"Snow", Connie sniffed.

* * *

The next morning Eren was up and about, minding his own business. He stepped outside and had to turn away his head because of the brightness that faced him.

He muttered something vague in displeasure, as his eys slowly adjusted to the light.

"Chilly", stated someone behind him. Eren turned around and saw Commander Erwin walking towards him.

"Commander", he greeted with a nod, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Good morning!" a familiar voice exclaimed, and Hanji appeared from behind the corner. "Isn't it lovely here?"

"Sure is", Erwin smiled at her. Hanji wrapped her other arm around Eren's neck.

"Hey there!" she grinned.

"Morning, Hanji", Eren laughed softly.

For a while they just exchanged some small talk, but then some action came in. Jean, Connie, Armin, Sasha and Mikasa were all approaching them from the barracks. Mikasa was wrapped up in her scarf (Eren still didn't understand why she was so attached to the old thing) and Armin seemed baffled by the sight of so much snow. The white stuff sure was everywhere, in thick piles and the sunlight made it shine so brightly it hurt.

Eren walked up to his friends and grinned at them.

"Just like back at home, right?" he stated to Armin and Mikasa, who nodded.

"It reminds me of Shiganshina, and all those winter days when we made snowmen and threw snowballs at each other", Mikasa stated.

"Those were the times", Armin smiled faintly.

Eren was about to answer, but then something cold and wet hit him right in the back. He quickly turned around and squinted at Jean, who had a smug grin on his face.

"Oh, we'll see who laughs next", Eren said villainously as he grabbed some snow and threw it straight at Jean's face.

The other boy quickly wiped the snow off his face and grimaced viciously. "I will crush you!" he yelled as he started making another ball. Sasha and Connie seemed to join him.

"Come on, let's show them what we're made of", Eren growled at Mikasa and Armin, who were already in battle stations.

Back in Shiganshina they'd always had an effective system where they went to cover and Armin kept making snowballs for Eren and Mikasa, who then aimed them at their enemies. Armin made the best snowballs, Mikasa was had the best aim and Eren's balls hit the hardest.

"This is war!" Connie shouted as he threw a ball straight to Eren's face.

It sure was a gruesome and hard battle. The fight stopped, however, when Hanji and Erwin made a snowball of their own and threw it straight at the unsuspecting captain Levi, who was walking away from them.

It hit straight the back of his head.

Eren stopped in horror. _Oh shit. Hanji, what have you done?_

Captain Levi's short character slowly turned around. He had a grim look on his face, as he stared Hanji dead in the eye from the other side of the yard. Erwin grinned at him and Hanji lifted her chin, challenge glimmering in her eyes.

Levi narrowed his eyes and glared at them. He slowly grabbed some snow from the ground and started making a snowball. Not a word was spoken – everyone's eyes were on Levi.

The captain sniffed and eyed at his creation. Then he threw a quick glance at Hanji and Erwin, before throwing the ball with a killing speed.

It landed nowhere near neither of them. Eren squinted and realized that the captain had thrown it… to the roof?

For a second they all just stared. Levi had already turned his back and started walking away.

"Oh no", Hanji breathed and she looked at Erwin in horror. They realized Levi's intentions a second too late. A huge mass of snow had started to tumble down a roof with a horrible speed. Neither of them had time to run for cover. In seconds Commander Erwin and Hanji were covered in snow to their chests.

Erwin sighed as he brushed some snow off of his hair. "I should have seen that coming."

* * *

 **Helloo, sorry for taking my time xd**

 **This is your chapter, a little bit shorter than usual, but it has a lot of content. I hope the atmosphere was a bit lighter on this one :)**

 **Love your reviews, as always!:3  
**

 _ **Orion Hunts**_ **: Omg thanks :3 so kind of you, and I'm pleased to hear you didn't think anything bad about the gentle-with-kids Levi xD I really appreciate your opinions =)  
**

 ** _Supergurkan_ : Oh yeah I'm happy you liked it =D Also no worries about your schedule, you'll read when you have time. I hope your grandparents are well =3 Also very happy if my stories help with your English. It's not my first language either (it's Finnish, if you're interested) so I always make some mistakes. Usually I notice and fix them, though ^-^**


	5. Art of Murder

**I'm back :D**

 **Sorry for being on hiatus but I've been _ridiculously_ busy for the whole summer... The recent comments, however, motivated me to make enough time to squeeze out this little piece here. It could be a bit weird, it was done in the middle of the night and I'll probably do a small editing session where I fix some mistakes and typos from both this and the earlier chapters.**

 **Thank you so much for being patient, and I'm very sorry for those who've had to wait for long. I hope you enjoy this one. I have no idea when I'll be able to write more, but hopefully I'll see you soon!**

 **As always, reviews are appreciated :3**

* * *

Armin was up and about, once again doing Hanji's bidding. He was carrying the files assigned to him and hurried forward at the Headquarters courtyard. It had been over a week since the last time he'd seen Ansel. Ever since Levi gave the guy a whooping, he'd been keeping his distance. He smiled at the memory, though. He was happy that the problem had finally been settled with.

That's when Armin saw Jean running towards him.

"Oi", he shouted. "There is a meeting in the main hall. Come quick."

Armin frowned with a nod.

* * *

The hall was filled with the Survey Corps soldiers. Levi's squad was gathered up in the middle of everything, so Jean and Armin had to push their way through to their friends. Eren glanced quickly at his friends.

"Hey", the boy whispered to Armin.

"What's going on?" he asked quickly.

Mikasa looked at him with a worried frown. "Erwin is about to explain."

Their commander stood up on a higher level, Levi and Hanji right behind him. Their squad leader had his normal, smileless expression on his face.

"Greetings", Erwin begun. "I am sad to inform that one of our fellow soldiers has been murdered."

Armin's fists clenched and is heart started pounding louder - who had been killed? Was it someone he knew? The news caused some whispering and mumbling.

"The soldier's name was Greta Font", he continued. "My deepest condolences go to her friends and family."

The man narrowed his bright, blue eyes. "Since this was a murder, every single one of you is a potential suspect. We will catch whoever is responsible."

Armin stared at the grim faces around him. He had seen Greta a few times, but never spoke with her. He didn't really know her, but based on the horrified, empty looks that some of the soldiers had on their faces, they sure had known her.

"You're free to go", Erwin finished before nodding to Levi and Hanji.

The people started talking in low, angry tones. Armin understood them – who would even consider killing a comrade? It was an outrageous thought. And from now on, everyone would still be suspecting each other.

"Captain", Eren gestured to the short man who could now and then be seen from behind the mass of people. People stepped aside to make him way, though. The captain walked up to them and glared at them with his usual manner.

"What do we do now?" Sasha asked, clearly scared. She looked around with huge eyes.

Levi pouted slightly. "The fuck if I know." He then tilted his head. "Just don't go and get yourselves murdered, I guess."

"That's helpful", murmured Jean. Levi glanced at him.

"Fine", the captain sighed. "Yes, we need to be careful now. Greta Font was a trained soldier, just like all of you. It means that our murderer is either a stealth assassin or just as highly trained soldier."

Armin frowned. Levi was right. "It could be that this was a one-time-thing", he stated. "If someone had something special against Greta. The killer could have been hired."

"Or", said Connie, "The killer has just started."

* * *

The next few days were filled with tension. Levi noticed how people didn't look each other in the eye anymore. He walked to the training grounds slower than usual. His squad was already waiting when he arrived.

"Start by doing ten pushups, thirty lunges and twenty squats", he said with a bored tone. The captain sat down and watched as his squad started. Mikasa was the fastest, as always. She was no doubt the strongest of them – after Levi himself of course. Eren was trying very hard to keep up with Mikasa, and Levi saw how the girl was actually holding back her strength to make Eren feel better. Armin was determined, but he got tired very fast and his breath started to wheeze. Jean was focused on what he was doing, ignoring the others completely (except for Mikasa, he occasionally stared at her arse), which left Sasha and Connie competing against each other.

Levi looked down at his hands. He liked this squad, really. It didn't matter that they were a bunch of brats, not even grown-ups yet. They became better soldiers every day, and they were even closer together than Levi's old squadmates had been. Eren and Jean's arguing sometimes reminded him about Auruo and Petra. Levi stared into the distance, wrapped in his memories before realizing that everyone was finished. He blinked a few times before assigning a new set of moves for them.

Levi leaned on his elbow. _I'm getting old, dwelling in my memories. Get your shit together, Levi._

With a sigh he got up and removed his jacket. He had a sleeveless, dark grey shirt on and he walked next to Eren, got down and started doing pushups.

* * *

It was late. Eren was walking down the stairs that lead to the dungeons. He was tired, but still his senses were tingling - there was a murderer on the loose, and he could be anywhere. He sighed - it hadn't been an easy day. The atmosphere was heavy, no more jokes or smiles in the hallways. Eren was just at the end of the stairs, when he heard it.

Soft, quick steps. The boy frowned - someone was trying to sneak, walking on their toes, heels barely touching the ground. The steps of someone who did not want to be noticed. Cold sweat climbed on his brows.

Very slowly and very quietly Eren sneaked back up the stairs. He carefully peeked under the railing and immediately noticed something was off. The figure that was walking away from him was dressed in the Scouting Legion's cloak. Their hood was on, and it was impossible to see who was under. Eren narrowed his eyes - this was way too suspicious in times like this.

Eren felt anger boil inside of him. This could be their murderer. He wasn't afraid to face the despicable bastard if it came down to it.

He crouched on the dimly lit hallway, every sense tingling like electricity. Eren's heart was pounding like crazy, and he didn't even understand why. He was safe - he could turn into a titan and smash murderer under his thumb. Eren gulped - the cloaked figure had stopped at the end of the hallway. There was someone else there as well. He cursed his bad luck - the hallway was really long and he had no other hiding place but a niche in the wall. He pressed against the cold wall and pinched his hearing to its limits - what were the two saying?

Eren could only hear bits and pieces. He heard something about the "payment", and the "objective". He frowned - this was definitely suspicious, but it could be just drug dealing instead of murder.

Suddenly Eren froze still, when he heard another set of footsteps coming right from the hallway behind him. He glanced back and cursed mentally. Captain Levi was walking calmly right towards them, focused on reading some kind of report. Eren glanced back at the two figures, who had yet not noticed anything. He gritted his teeth and breathed out to calm himself. Levi was almost next to him…

* * *

Levi walked down the hallway at the Northern wing, reading lazily the report that he'd need to sign and hand over to Erwin, some bullshit about the new recruits' training results. It was late and he had some other paperwork to do as well before he could get some sleep. He'd need to get some tea.

Levi didn't notice the hands that suddenly reached out to cover his mouth and pull him back. He heard someone hissing to his ear, and it took him only a moment to realize it was Eren. Levi grunted and pushed the kid's hands off of his face.

"What the hell, Jaeger?"

"Hush!" Eren hissed again and raised a finger to his lips. Levi stared at him and then moved his gaze to the direction he was pointing. There were two men at the end of the hallway, and both of them were now looking at the direction they were hiding. The captain noticed how Eren bit his lip nervously, but seemed to relax a little after the two returned to their conversation.

"Care to explain what we're doing?" Levi whispered angrily to Eren's ear.

"Spying. Those two are suspicious"; Eren answered with a sharp look in his green eyes. The captain rubbed his eyes.

"Don't you think you might be overreacting? They're just talking."

The kid's frown got deeper. "At this hour? Hardly. Those two do not want to be seen."

Levi glanced at them again and had to admit he was right. The two hooded figures clearly didn't have good intentions.

"So, what's your plan here exactly?" Levi whispered.

Eren shifted his weight. "Shut up. I'm trying to listen to what they're saying."

The captain frowned. "Did you just say shut up to me?"

Suddenly the guy dressed in the Scouting Legion cloak turned his head a bit, making his voice just loud enough for Eren and Levi hear what they were saying.

"Meet you again after you've done your next job."

"Agreed."

Levi frowned. Something was definitely wrong with these two. Were they really making a deal about a murder? It was impossible to sneak up on the guy from the position they were in, and unless the guy would come right past them they had no chance of catching him.

The man in the green Scouting Legion-cloak looked around before giving the other one something. Levi and Eren both squinted to see what was going on. Some kind of letter, the captain was quite sure of it. Within the next few seconds both of the hooded figures disappeared to the shadows. Levi knew that chasing would be a waste of time.

"Damn", he muttered before stepping back to the light. He looked up at Eren, who had the same serious frown on his face as earlier.

"Now what?" he asked.

Levi sighed. "I suppose we'll go report to Erwin. Come on."

* * *

The next morning everyone was dense. Eren was tired, though – he had slept maybe for two hours after he and captain Levi had went and woken up the commander to tell him about what they'd seen. He couldn't understand how someone could cope with this little sleep. He sat down for breakfast and started eating his cereal like in a machine-like manner.

Armin leaned closer and Mikasa narrowed her eyes at him.

"No sleep, huh?" smirked Jean who carried his tray to the opposite side of the table.

Eren grunted as an answer.

"What were you doing?" Armin frowned.

"I saw stuff", Eren slurred. "With Levi."

"Eren, you make no sense", stated Jean. "Saw what with Levi?"

The boy stared at Jean's horse-face for a while before is brains processed what he'd just asked.

"Um… two guys acting suspiciously. I had to explain the whole thing to commander Erwin last night, and I really don't feel like explaining it again right now", he finally said and took a long gulp of his apple juice.

That's when Erwin Smith started clearing his throat and stood up, gathering everyone's attention.

"I'm just letting you know that from now on we'll be working together with the Military Police in order to catch Greta Font's killer. We have strong suspicions that he is still within the HQ and is planning to kill again." Eren flinched as the commander's ice-blue gaze swept over him.

Frustrated sighs could be heard all over the hall. No one liked the Military Police. The two forces had always had it out for each other.

"I expect you all to act like soldiers, and assist the Military Police in any way possible. Don't forget we're on the same side", Erwin finished.

"Great", Jean muttered. "Just what we needed."

Eren yawned. "Don't forget that you were on your way to the MPs as well."

"Shut it."

* * *

The Military Police arrived in the afternoon, ten of them. The Survey Corps gave them long faces, but of course everybody would co-operate. Levi hated the MPs with a passion. He considered them to be cowards, people who thought that hiding behind the walls and serving the royalty served more purpose than killing titans. The people who made it to Military Police were once the cadets with the best results in their training, meaning that the most capable titan killers went to hide away. Levi could never live his life like that. He remembered one particularly disgusting member of the Police force, who'd once come down to the Underground City for a drink. Levi had been just a kid back then, maybe six or seven, and then guy had begun to come onto him, touching him, thinking he was a little girl. Levi did have certain femininity in his facial features, and his hair had been a long black mess back then. He could still remember his rotten breath on his face. The captain grimaced and watched as the MPs marched in like they owned the place.

His squad didn't seem too enthusiastic either. Erwin made a small speech about the importance of companionship and some crap like that.

That's when one of the MPs approached him – he was a tall, brown-haired man with a big nose and a stubble. He eagerly reached out his hand and stared at Levi with bright eyes.

"Captain Levi! It is an honor to stand before you."

Levi blinked and could feel Erwin's eyes drill into his skull, so he reluctantly grabbed the man's hand and squeezed it.

"I have to say, you're shorter than I imagined", the man smiled. The captain narrowed his eyes and heard his squad members hold their breaths.

"Yeah, you're not the first", he managed to squeeze out, even though it killed him in the inside. _I'm doing this for Erwin. Come on, Levi, just take it in. You can do it._

"Well, I'm looking forward to working with you", the man finally stated happily and patted Levi on the shoulder. The captain glared after him so darkly that he saw how Armin flinched.

Levi hoped they'd catch the criminal soon. He wasn't sure how long he'd have the patience to stand these rude, cowardly prunes.

After the MPs had introduced themselves and had been accommodated, Levi turned his course towards the courtyard.

"Where are you going, captain?" yelled Eren after him.

"Going to find something to punch!"

* * *

Levi was so tired. There had been a number of so called "suspicious activity" going around the castle, including a hungry Sasha grabbing something to eat from the food storage, Hanji blowing up some shit in her laboratory and so on. It was ridiculous.

Levi finally made it to his room. He started unbuckling the straps that formed his harness. The captain removed his jacket and hanged it up to his closet. He changed into a pair of loose, knee-height shorts and a sleeveless white shirt.

He was actually going to sleep in his bed tonight - usually he preferred the chair, but he hadn't slept at all last night and he really felt like he could use the rest. Levi fell into his bed and allowed himself to fall asleep.

* * *

"Levi!"

"Captain, open up!"

"Captain!"

Levi slowly opened his eyes. There was an ungodly noise coming from behind his door - several hissing noises and some half-whispered words, some quiet pounding on the door.

His head hurt and he rubbed his eyes as he got out of bed and marched to the door.

"What the _fuck_?" he growled as he opened the door. Eren, Armin, Mikasa, Jean, Connie and Sasha all stood in front of him. Eren hushed him once again with an angry frown.

"Come quick!" he said and grabbed the captain's arm pulling him to the hallway.

"Oh fuck this…" Levi sighed but surrendered to his fate and followed the kids. "What's going on?"

"I saw him", Eren explained. "At least I think its him. We were spending time in the boys' barracks when Armin saw someone sneaking towards the courtyard. I took a look, and I'm almost certain it was the same guy we saw that night in the hallway."

"It's strange", Armin continued. "There was something familiar about him."

Levi nodded. He was now fully awake. "Towards the courtyard, then."

He rubbed the back of his head with a sigh. His head was pounding like crazy - usually he was fine with sleep deprivation but apparently this was different.

"Got a headache, captain?" asked Armin quickly.

"You _are_ my headache", Levi grunted as they closed in towards the courtyard. Their pace had slowed down and everybody quieted down.

Levi squinted and peeked through the window.

"There's someone there", he admitted. The captain grimaced as he saw the snowflakes that were slowly falling to the ground - and he was wearing shorts and a sleeveless shirt.

"Great", he muttered. "Alright, listen up, brats."

Levi turned towards his squad. "Connie, Mikasa and Sasha, get over there", he pointed his finger outside. "Block their way from there."

"Eren and Jean, go block that exit over there", he pointed towards the door on the opposite side of the yard. "Armin and me will stay here and guard this door. When they're done with their little talk, we get them. Clear?"

"Roger, captain!"

* * *

Levi squinted as he tried to see something in the dark. Everyone was in their place, waiting for action. Finally the two cloaked figures started to move away from each other. Levi narrowed his eyes - one of them was coming right at him and Armin.

The younger soldier was on the opposite side of the door. His mouth was just a straight line and his bright blue eyes glimmered in the dark. Levi nodded and pressed against the cold stone wall.

The door opened and the victim stepped in. Levi gritted his teeth and Armin opened the fight by kicking the man to the stomach.

There was a muffled "uuf"-sound as the man stumbled forwards. The man tried to swing a fist at Armin, but he grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. Levi grabbed his hood and pulled it back, revealing the man's face.

His eyes widened. " _You?_ "

* * *

"So let me get this straight", Erwin said slowly. "Ansel Klein hired a hitman to kill Greta Font in order to rise in rank. His next plan was to order a kill on Armin Arlert, so that he could get a place in the Special Operations Squad?"

"Yes", Levi stated, glancing at the golden-haired boy next to him. Armin was tense and kept looking down.

"He's had it out for Armin for a long time", the captain added. "Who could've known that his lust for a powerful status would go this far."

Erwin nodded. "And both of them are now safely behind bars?"

"Correct", the captain replied.

After the report was finished, Levi and Armin left the commander's office and stepped into the corridor.

"You okay?" the captain asked as they started walking.

Armin didn't answer at first, but then he nodded slowly. "I suppose. It's just difficult to think that… even though he was an ass, he was capable of getting rid of his own comrades in order to rise in rank."

Levi sighed. "Greta Font died for nothing, anyway. I would have never taken him in my squad."

Armin nodded, but stayed quiet. When they reached the boys' barracks the captain turned to the boy one more time.

"Armin", Levi said. "You are irreplaceable for the Special Operations Squad, and I hope you know that. Ansel was a traitor, who will most likely be sentenced for life in prison. You are a good soldier and I am proud to have you fight by my side."

Armin's big, blue eyes glimmered and Levi could see how he couldn't stop a smile from climbing to his face.

"Th- thank you, captain!"

He nodded at the boy. "Now go get some sleep", he grunted before heading back towards his own room.

* * *

Armin sat down on his bed. He couldn't stop himself from smiling. He didn't know how captain Levi had managed to pick the perfect words to say. The boy took out something from under his pillow. They were glimmering in the candlelight - his razor blades. He thought about all those times Ansel had beaten him up, but how in the end it was Armin who had won the war. The boy slowly stroked the scars on his arms before taking the small, sharp blades on the palm of his hand and throwing them to the garbage can.

 _I am needed,_ was his final thought as he fell asleep.

* * *

 ** _Guest number 1, 2 & 3_: Thank you, I'm so happy that you like it! Here's your chapter and I hope y'all are satisfied :'D**

 ** _Guest number 4_ : That's amazing to hear... I agree with you about how unloyal some fics are to the actual characters. I try to always think if this particular character would do this or do that, but I don't know how well I've succeeded... Anyway, your comment was really nice and motivating, thank you :3**

 ** _HeartElyse_ : Don't worry darling I'm not stopping :3 I have tons of ideas for future chapters. I'm thrilled that you like it so much and you reminded me that I really need to write again. Your comment meant a lot to me, thank you :3 **


	6. Patchwork wings

_I run,_

 _stretching my wings_

 _To as far as they go;_

 _Waiting, waiting_

 _for this wind to come again_

 _To toss me back_

 _into the starry heavens_

 _Joining my friends,_

 _Who fall beside me_

 _Giving their life for mine_

 _Fading out of existence_

 _Yet granting me,_

 _these bloodstained,_

 _patchwork wings -_

 _my Wings of Freedom._

* * *

Humanity's strongest.

It was like those words were scorched into his back. People knew him as the great captain of the Survey Corps, the one person at the commander's side. The one person who would never fall. The invincible captain Levi.

The pale sunlight made its way to the crack of the old tombstones. He slowly ran his fingers on the cold stone, closing his eyes for a moment.

Levi imagined them beside him. Her small, short form dancing around her, and the man's hand on his shoulder.

 _Isabel. Farlan._

Levi opened his eyes, and his imaginary friends were gone. It was the thirteenth anniversary of their death.

Thirteen years since he'd last heard the melody of Isabel's voice. Thirteen years since he saw Farlan smile.

Thirteen years since he had buried their bodies.

At least his heart was still where it should be. He had never been heartless, never been unempathetic.

But he wasn't happy anymore. All the people who used to make him happy were dead.

Levi had never been the one to smile, really - his mother's death had taken his smile with him. Isabel and Farlan's death took away his happiness. His squad's death took away his will to go on.

Levi had noticed that in himself recently. He no longer cared if he returned home from an expedition of not. He'd been fighting for this damned humanity for so long now.

Humanity's strongest soldier. And still he couldn't save all these people.

In the end, Levi would be the only one left. He always survived, no matter what. It was his curse. No matter how many bodies piled up next to him, no matter how many comrades fell…

He remained.

 _Why couldn't I just lose? Just this once, and it could be all over?_ Levi bit his bottom lip. _I don't want to be in this cold world any longer._

It was silent in the graveyard. Small, silent drops of water started falling down from the grey sky. The snow had melted ages ago, and the earth was grey.

Levi exhaled slowly, before kneeling down and starting to scrape away the dirt that had formed on the two gravestones during the last year.

 _Believe in us_ , Farlan's words rang in his ears, like he'd heard them yesterday. His oldest, dearest friend. Oh how far they went together. Levi and Farlan, the kings of the Underground City. And their little queen.

 _We're counting on you, brother_ , Isabel's voice haunted him.

They counted on him. They counted on Levi to be there for them. To keep them safe.

 _I'm sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry that I left you alone._

Levi straightened up and watched his handiwork. The graves were now clean. He placed down the flowers he had brought, the pure white roses. They looked even whiter on the cold, grey soil.

Levi took the candles from his bag. He placed them all around the two graves, putting on the covers so that the rain wouldn't put them out.

Levi lit the flame of the match. He stared emptily as the wick ignited, and suddenly his heart clenched harder than before.

 _I just want you here, damnit. I want to see you again, I want…_

Levi stared at the graves, eyes unseeing. He felt his breathing get heavier, but he wasn't crying. Never. His tear channels had dried up a long time ago.

 _Why can't I just die?_

It was times like this when he just wanted to scream - scream with the top of his lungs. He hadn't done that, not after he had tore apart that titan… that titan who had killed his friends. Ever since that day he had abandoned the rage inside him. He swore he would follow commander Erwin wherever he went. That he would follow his orders no matter what.

And Levi had done that. He'd been the most loyal soldier ever since. He was a grown-up now, and an experienced soldier.

 _Look how far I've come. Look at me now._ Levi clenched his fists. _No matter who I am now, I would give it all up, even my freedom to live in the Surface… if it just brought you back._

He stood there, in the rain, letting the water soak into his hair, clothes and fall down his face. The sky cried for him, so he didn't have to. Those two sad gravestones seemed to look back at him.

"See you then", he whispered.

* * *

As he walked back to the city, under the rain, sunken into his own, depressed thoughts - he saw the grey sky being pierced by a bright, green lightning. A heavy, hot wind blew on his face and Levi froze for a moment.

That was a titan transform. Levi sprinted into a run. The deeper into the city he went, the more chaos he saw. People crying in panic, fleeing from their homes, praying to their own gods.

 _Eren, what do you…?_

His thoughts were interrupted when a dark shadow towered over him. The captain stared in disbelief as Eren's titan form roared to the skies, eyes glimmering like emerald flames.

Levi didn't have a maneuver gear on. Erwin always gave him this day of the year off.

The people were running and screaming in panic all around him, but he stood still. Eren had stopped - apparently he had noticed Levi. The captain stared back at the huge beast without blinking an eye.

Eren let out some steam from his mouth and then suddenly dropped down on his knees and pushed his huge face to Levi's direction.

He was faced with the huge green eyes staring right at him.

"Fucking hell", Levi muttered. "What did you do?"

Eren growled something, and the voice echoed in the streets.

"You're in control if yourself. That's good. We need to get you out of town though so we can cut you out."

Eren bellowed again and then touches his nape, shaking his huge head very stiffly. Levi frowned. What was the boy trying to say?

Eren exhaled and suddenly grabbed the captain to his fist. Levi grunted in surprise and struggled at first, but Eren put him down quite quickly

He was staring at a weird, grey lump of… stone? Levi blinked in confusion.

Eren's whole neck was made completely of stone. Not crystal, like Annie's, but stone. Anyhow, the the stone's patternlooked very irregular and didn't even seem like skin.

"How did this happen?" Levi murmured before climbing up to Eren's shoulder. The titan tilted his head.

"Oh well", Levi grunted. "I suppose the others are putting on their gears to come and put you down."

Eren's ears moved slightly.

"Let's go", the captain said. "The others will follow, and most of the citizens are out of the way. Come on."

The short man had to climb onto Eren's head so he could hold on without falling. He felt slightly naked without his maneuver gear, but he was quite certain that if he lost his balance, Eren would catch him.

Levi guided Eren away from the city central - the titan was careful not to step on any buildings - or people. The guards at the edge of the city were staring with wide, terrified eyes as the titan and captain Levi passed them.

"Don't mind us", Levi mumbled, knowing they wouldn't hear. They had reached the tree line, where the city ended. Eren kept marching on in the middle of the pine trees.  
"Over there", Levi pointed. "There's a clearing. Let's stop there and wait for the others."

The titan did as he was told and marched to the middle of the clearing. Levi sighed and slid down to the giant's shoulder. He eyed at the city, and could still hear the screams of panic. Had there been casualties? This was bad...

Suddenly Eren moved restlessly. Levi frowned and then staggered on his feet, grabbing onto a lock of Eren's rope-like hair.

"What are you doing?" Levi hissed. The titan then grabbed a nearby tree - Levi could hear the wood whining and creaking - and ripped it from its roots. With a low growl raising from his chest, Eren raised the tree up in the air, like a torch. He then started waving it from one side to another.

"Clever", Levi stated. This would ensure that the Scouting Legion would find them.

"Eren!"

Levi and the titan both turned to look. Mikasa was the first one on the scene. Her black eyes were worried, and she looked from Levi, who was sitting on Eren's shoulder and leaning to the titan's neck, to Eren who was waving around a pine tree, and then back.

"He's okay", the captain told her. "But I still don't know what happened."

Mikasa used the maneuver gear to climb up to Eren's shoulder. Her eyes darted back to Levi, who got up on his feet.

"It was better to take him out of the city as fast as possible", the captain stated. "I don't have anything to cut him out with, though."

Mikasa shook her head. "I don't know if we can… that stone on his nape? It's a whole rock."

Levi raised his brows.

"Eren fell backwards towards a rock, when a horse pushed him", Mikasa explained. "He transformed _around_ the rock. We can't get him out - he could be crushed."

Levi frowned with worry and glanced at the titan, who looked back at them with his huge, emerald eyes.

"Eren!" another voice shouted. They looked down and saw Armin, Jean, Connie and Sasha soaring through the trees.

"What's the situation?" they yelled.

Eren looked down at them and slowly lifted his thumb up.

"...Oh."

"Eren", Levi exhaled. "Would you be a lamb and put me down?"

The titan tilted his head, reached out his hand and opened his palm. Levi balanced on the titan's hard skin and climbed onto his hand.

Eren knelt down, allowing Levi to step back on steady ground. He felt a bit dizzy, but he knew it'd pass.

"If I understood right", Levi said, "Eren is stuck in there."  
"It would seem so, sir", Armin frowned.

It didn't take long before Hanji and commander Erwin arrived, along with a bunch of other soldiers - all looked worried and slightly terrified.

"It's okay, he's fine, he's just stuck", the captain sighed. "No one's dead."

Hanji stared at the huge form with wide eyes and a slight smile. "Oh my…"

"Hanji. What do you think we should do?" Levi asked with a frown.

The woman pushed her glasses higher up her nose. "Well, if we can't cut him out… he has no choice but to stay in titan form for now."

It became silent. Eren eyed at Hanji.

"I'm sorry but that's just how it is", the scientist exclaimed. "We'll have to transport him to a private location away from all settlements."

"And what?" Erwin narrowed his eyes.

"And we'll figure something out", she stated.

* * *

:.: _Two Days Later_ :.:

* * *

Levi stared out of the window. It had started snowing again. He reached for his teacup and enjoyed the feeling that the hot liquid brought. It filled him up, made him warm to the bones and cheered up his tired brain. Tea was amazing.

He was on guard at the moment. The other soldiers were sleeping safe and sound in their bunkbeds. The cabin they stayed in was relatively small, but it was on an ideal place - away from towns, villages and cities. It was supposed to be a hunting cabin, but it had been out of use for a while. They had to clean up the whole place, but because of the size of the cabin it didn't take very long.

Levi sighed and took another sip of his tea. Suddenly something caught his interest. Eren was sleeping like a truck outside, behind the cabin - he could hear the titan's snore - so it couldn't be Eren. And no one else was outside…

So what on earth was that yellow glow?

Levi frowned and grabbed the shotgun that had been leaning on the wall. He slowly walked up to the door and tried to into the woods a bit better. However, it was snowing and the wind was rough, so he couldn't really see much better.

The captain narrowed his eyes. The glow was still there - it was a small, orange light. A cigarette?

In a few seconds, the light went out. The snow covered his view, but Levi was now certain. That was a light from a cigarette. Who would be out here, in the mountains, all by themselves at this hour?

Levi frowned, and pulled the door close. It was no use going after someone right now, but he'd be sure to keep an eye on the treeline.

* * *

The next morning, after everyone had woken up terrified to a huge, green eye staring into their room from the window, Levi had told them about the light that was presumably a cigarette light. Hanji frowned at this.

"I'm not sure who could possibly be out there", she stated. "Probably some hunter, who just stopped to see how the cabin was full of people suddenly."

Levi nodded and stretched his back. "Oh well, I'm off to take a nap. Wake me up for anything unusual."

"Unusual?" Jean scoffed. "Well, there's that big-ass titan right outside the door…"

The captain didn't bother to answer - he was too tired. He fell into a soft chair and closed his eyes. It didn't take long until the sleep took him away.

* * *

Levi didn't wake up until afternoon. It was actually quite a long time to sleep in his scale, so he felt well-rested. With a yawn he walked into the small kitchen and poured himself more tea.

Levi noted that nobody was inside any longer - were they all outside playing with Eren or something? He sighed and walked up to the window, taking a sip of his tea. It was chilly inside - the brats had let the fire die out.

"Idiots", he mumbled as he placed new wood inside the fireplace, and lit the match. He sat down on a chair and stared into the flames, that slowly started spreading. He enjoyed this - having some lonesome time, all by himself.

Although that's when he had the most time with his own thoughts. His new squad made him forget things that were bothering him. They made the captain focus on the moment, taking his thoughts away from things like Farlan and Isabel.

Levi licked the tea from his lips and got up. He put on his cloak and boots before putting down his cup and opening the door.

It was cold. The temperature had dropped significantly. He squinted at the pale sun that made the snow glimmer like diamonds.

The captain glanced behind him, but didn't see Eren's tall form hovering over the trees. He could hear some distant noise not too far away.

He started making his way towards the noise, that he soon recognized to belong to Hanji. Levi raised his brows as he reached the unusual scene.

He could see Eren crouching in front of the small group who was gathered in a small ring. Levi slowly walked closer.

"Her wing must be broken", he heard Armin say.

"We should take her inside to warm up", argued Sasha.

"We should find something to fix his wing with", Connie stated.

"Nah, she's doomed", Jean grimaced.

Levi cleared his throat, and everyone immediately turned their gazes to the captain.

"Oh, hi Captain Sleepyhead", Hanji grinned. "Come and see this little darling."

The short man tried to ignore the fact she'd just called him _sleepyhead_ even though she knew that he barely ever slept more than four hours a night.

There, on Armin's cupped hands was a small lying bird on its side. It was grey and it had wet, fuzzy feathers. The birds little, black button-eyes darted from one person to another.

Levi froze still for just a second - he could remember it clear as a day.

The first time they'd met Isabel. She had been carrying a bird with a broken wing. She had attempted to free it before and almost got herself caught by the guards while risking herself over a bloody bird. It wasn't like the bird could fly anyway - it's wing was broken. But with Levi and Farlan's help, the bird had been nursed back to health and they had freed it together. He remembered the feeling of joy, and the brightness of Isabel's green eyes.

"Here", he said stiffly, taking out a handkerchief from his pocket. Levi knelt in front of Armin and slowly, trying not to scare the bird, took the wing in between his fingers.

"We'll have to place her wing back to its original place", Levi explained. "It's not broken, just dislocated." The others gathered around with interested looks. He felt Eren's moist breath on his face.

"Hold on to her, Armin", Levi warned. "This will make her panic."

Quickly and carefully he pulled the wing back to its place. The bird started squirming like a madman and whistled with a stressed tone. He frowned and wished for her to calm down soon, so that she wouldn't put the wing out of place all over again.

"Shush, little bird. It's alright", Armin hummed. The bird calmed down for a minute and finally let Levi to touch her wing again. Very slowly and very carefully he wrapped the fabric around the fragile creature's wing. He tried his best not to hurt the thing any more, but pulled the bandage tight enough to hold the wing still. Levi finished his handiwork by tying up the knot.

"Wow", Armin breathed out."You really know what you're doing, captain."

Levi blinked. He had watched Farlan do that. "Bring her inside to warm up, as Sasha said", he murmured. "She'll need rest before she can fly again." The captain glanced up at the sky.

"And it looks like there's a blizzard on its way."

* * *

For the next few days they were trapped inside the small cabin. Eren wrapped around his big body, and kept himself quite warm enough all by himself. Hanji had made close notes on his condition, that had actually taken a turn for the better. The stone on his neck had started to fall off. The heat from the titan's body had made it crumble.

"Good", Levi said. "We'll get out of here soon."

They weren't ready to ride back yet, though. Eren had to be out of his titan before that. His squad passed the time by taking care of their horses, keeping watch on the fireplace, throwing darts or playing card games. The worst part was that Levi was out of tea.

But their day turned into a much more interesting one, when they heard hoof steps along the path that lead to the cabin.

It was commander Erwin and two other soldiers. The commander's majestic white horse, Santiago, looked around with its big, deep eyes.

"Commander", Hanji saluted.

"Hanji", he greeted. "I'm here to hear the results of the past week myself."

Erwin jumped down from the horse.

"And we also brought you more food, water and toilet paper."

Levi stepped forward. "And tea?"

The commander smirked. "And tea."

* * *

"Hold still", Levi grunted at the squirming giant. Eren exhaled and the body the captain was standing on, stopped moving completely.

"You don't have to hold you breath."

Eren He was about to perform a very difficult and dangerous task.

Eren's stony skin had thinned down so much that it was no affecting his spinal function. The titan could barely move anymore.

Levi ran the tip of his blade on the edges of the stone. After the stone layer would be gone, he would have to be fast enough not to let Eren regenerate.

He narrowed his eyes and started slashing. His every move was planned to make the stone crumble apart at the right spots. He knew exactly where Eren's real body was located, so he was careful to leave that part untouched. Had the stone layer been any thicker, this would have been impossible. Levi dropped down his dulled blades and took up another pair.

He walked slowly around the titan's nape. His squad seemed to hold their breath. Levi suddenly struck both his blades between the stone and the flesh, but not too deep. He would have to be careful not to snap them.

Levi tried to find the place where the stone ended. He felt Eren inhale sharply.

"Sorry", he murmured, realizing he'd probably hit the boy.

"I'm going to try and lift this off", Levi announced to him. He felt Erwin and Hanji's looks on his back - and he knew full well that Mikasa was probably glaring at him.

Levi took a deep breath, before slowly starting to press down on the handles of his blades. He grimaced as he heard them bend and whine. These blades weren't exactly strong - they were made to cut the titan's skins - they were sharp if nothing more. Unless the wielder of the blades was highly experienced in handling them, the blades would break just from cutting a few titans' napes.

Levi grunted out as a cloud of hot steam erupted from under the rock layer.

But that was good - it meant that he had created a crack.

"Mikasa!" he yelled. "Come and give me a hand, will you?"

In a matter of seconds she was by her side, sticking her fingers under the small crack that Levi had created.

Mikasa glanced up at the captain. "On three", she said.

With their powers combined, the huge stone slab started lifting. The titan's body twitched slightly. Some more hot steam burst from under the stone, and Mikasa hissed as her fingers got burned.

"Those two have amazing strength", Armin admired. The others remained silent as the two soldiers worked.

Mikasa grunted out as they finally managed to flip the rock over, taking a big part of the titan's skin and rips of flesh along with it.

Both of them stepped away from the hot, blinding steam. They were both out of breath.

Levi sniffed and watched as Mikasa slowly stepped closer. He could see Eren's body. It had been right under the stone - a very dangerous position.

"Eren!" Mikasa yelled sharply. "Eren!"

Levi stepped in to help her cut him off from the now-decaying remains of a titan.

"Is he alright?" Hanji yelled.

Eren's thin, slimy body had been dragged out of the gaping wound on the titan's neck.

"Huh?" the boy mumbled, and Levi felt a wave of relief.

"He'll be okay."

Mikasa quickly lifted him on her arms and jumped down, supporting his neck at the same time.

"Great", Erwin stated. "Once he's regained his strength, we'll be ready to move."

Eren had slept for full twenty hours straight, but he seemed to be in good health. When he did woke up, he was ravenous.

"What was it like?" Hanji questioned, a slight mad glimmer in the corner of her eye.

"Well", the boy staggered. "The stone that was stuck to my neck was really uncomfortable. There are some blanks, I don't remember everything from the past week."

Hanji frowned. "What do you remember?"

Eren shifted on his chair and took a sip of his cocoa. He could feel the commander's eyes staring at him.

"I remember when Armin found that injured bird. And how the captain fixed her wing", he explained. "And I also remember when Mikasa sat on my shoulder one night and talked to me."

Hanji scribbled this down on her notes. "Interesting. Do you remember anything about the trip here, or the times you were alone at night?"

Eren frowned. "Not really. It's all hazy."

"Oh, how fascinating", Hanji grinned. "You seem to remember humane moments, when you were with someone else instead of the times when you were alone with your titan self."

Erwin scratched his neck. "If it makes you feel any better, there were no casualties. The damage to the city wasn't large either. It took a while to make the citizens calm down, though."

"Are you ready to ride home?" Hanji asked.

Eren nodded. "Absolutely. It's nice to stretch a little, anyway."

* * *

In a few hours, everything was packed and everyone was ready to leave.

Eren was riding between Mikasa and Armin, and had both of them glance at him with worry every now and then.

"Guys, I'm fine", he sighed.

"You were a titan for a week", Armin stated. "It's got to have some side effects."

Mikasa didn't say anything, but stared unblinkingly at Eren. He was starting to feel a bit angry - he wasn't a child any longer and he was feeling _fine_. Eren was about to say this to Mikasa, when the air was pierced by a sharp and loud gunshot.

He watched in horror as Hanji, who was riding in front of them, fell off her horse, holding onto her leg. Eren could see the thick, red blood trickle from between her fingers, and saw the pained expression on her face. But what was more worrying, were the twenty rifles aimed straight at them.

Eren's heart left out one beat. There was no way he could transform into a titan at the moment, not after spending a week in that state.

Commander Erwin watched sharply at the people, who were approaching them. Sasha had gone to Hanji, and tried to help her stop the bleeding.

"Everyone, get off the horses", one of the men growled, aiming the rifle straight at the commander. After a small pause, Erwin gave an order:

"Everyone, do as he says."

In a moment, their horses were being taken away. Eren gnashed his teeth and glared at the men with anger. He remembered full well the time when a group of mountain thugs had taken Historia hostage and stolen all their gear.

"As I said, boss", a man suddenly spoke, stepping forwards. He was holding a cigarette in between his fingers. "Here we have commander Erwin Smith and captain Levi of the Survey Corps."

"Well, well, well", the group's assumed leader grinned, walking closer to the two, pulling out a pistol. "Guess we truly hit a jackpot here", he said as he pressed the gun against Levi's forehead.

* * *

 **Well, that was that :D I hope it made sense even somehow... I love to end in cliffhangers, sorry all xD The poem in the beginning is NOT mine, don't know the person it belongs to. Just found it from Pinterest and thought it was cool and fitting to the beginning of the story.**

 **I know I was actually supposed to update my other fics before this one, but I seriously have the most inspiration on this story, and the credit for that belongs to you guys! I'm baffled by the positive comments I get from you!**

 ** _Supergurkan_ : Ask and you shall receive! Hope the beginning has enough angst for you x) I'd like to keep these pretty one/two-shotty, but I won't forget the events of the previous chapters ;) Also, oh my god, canon or a spinoff? :3 That's so nicely said... I smile every time I see your comment. I love to have a loyal reader like you. Take care!**

 ** _HeartElyse_ : Aww, I'm so glad you liked it! I tried to make the ending touching, and I'm glad you noticed my effort, hehe ;) I really hope you liked this one too!**

 ** _Guest_ : Hello again, beloved Guest :3 I feel honored to be the first person to reply, although a little sad that no one else has done that. I feel like it's the least I can do for the readers who are kind enough to review! Also I feel highly honored by the fact that my fic is in _the favorites-folder of your phone!_ This is my proudest moment... And I feel the same way, I tend to keep the romance in their own stories. This is purely adventure and friendship-fic :)**

 ** _DraconisWinters_ : Thanks to yourself! I'm glad you enjoyed this little fic of mine, and I hope you'll be satisfied by the future chapters as well:3**

 ** **Don't forget to review more, since your support and opinions are what keep me motivated :3****

 **Alright then, toodles y'all and see you in the next chapter!**


	7. Here there be monsters

**Jesus fucking Christ, fine. Here. Take it.  
**

* * *

 _A wolf would chew off its own paw_  
 _in order to escape._  
 _Its survival instinct is so strong._  
 _So is mine._

 _\- Dexter_

* * *

The air was filled with tension, as captain Levi's icy eyes stared into his opponent's. There was a grin on the group leader's voice, as the mouth of his gun rested an inch away from the captain's forehead. A few seconds passed, as the soldiers started shouting insults and malicious threats towards the thugs.  
"Shut up!" hissed the leader suddenly. "Strip off your 3DMG. If I see one movement I don't like, I'll blow up the little guy's head to smithereens."  
That silenced most of them, although everyone was still glaring at the thugs with bright hatred.  
"You too", the thug murmured to the captain.  
Levi narrowed his eyes. It feels so humiliating to be a hostage, he thought to himself. He didn't have a lot of options, though - so he did what the miserable little sack of shit asked for.  
"Turn around", the leader commanded when he was finished. Another thug came to pick up his gear.  
The captain sighed, glancing towards Erwin who had also been secured by two of the criminals.  
"Fine", he growled quietly and strolled towards the direction where they were taking the commander.  
"Stop", the thug murmured as they'd reached a small clearing, that was about fifty feet away from where they'd been before.  
Levi obeyed, eyeing at the three carriages the thugs apparently owned.  
"Get your gear off", the man grunted, waving his gun. The captain gritted his teeth but had no choice but to strip his manoeuver gear off and let it fall to the ground. A few thugs approached him - one of them picked up the gear he'd dropped, and the other raised a gun over his head. As the hard end of the revolver connected with the back of his head, Levi was knocked into darkness.

* * *

"Fuck", Levi muttered as he started reaching consciousness. His eyelids felt so heavy he couldn't even begin to get them open, and there was a constant ache drumming inside his skull.  
"Well, look who's awake", someone said. Levi attempted to lift his hands, but soon came to realise his hand were bound behind his back with handcuffs, and he was sitting on… a chair?  
Levi forced his eyes open, focusing them on the first thing he saw. The man with the cigarette. He had an irksome smirk on his face as he leaned closer.  
"Don't let him out of your sight, even for a second", the man commanded, and the four other people in the room nodded their acceptance. "And even if you face any problems, try to avoid shooting him."  
With that, the man walked away and left Levi with his four guards.  
 _Where's Erwin?_  
His chair was in a relatively large, decorless room with no windows.  
The walls were sturdy, grey and made of concrete, which made Levi believe they might have been underground. The room was lit brightly with several oil lamps, and the thugs that were watching him were all armed to the teeth. Levi's head dropped forward, putting a strain on his neck. The faintest smirk tugged the corner of his mouth.  
 _Do you really think you can hold me?_

* * *

Erwin narrowed his eyes at the man who was standing in front of him. The commander of the Survey Corps was handcuffed down to a chair, and he was being eyed by the apparent leaders of the thugs.  
"What is it exactly that you want?" he asked coldly. The man took his time to answer.  
"Well, you two are obviously very valuable assets to… well, the whole humanity."  
The thug's scarred face widened to a grin. "I bet the king wants you two back safely, no matter the cost."  
Erwin's eyebrow arched. "You think the king will agree to pay for our freedom? We are replaceable to him."  
The thug shrugged. "We'll see. We sent one of your people, a wee lad, to take the word."  
 _Armin?_  
"And we'll get a nice price for all this gear we got from you guys", the man sounded smug. Erwin squinted, keeping his expression emotionless and cold but didn't say anything.  
"Alright, you just sit tight and look pretty, commander Smith", the man stated, smiling. "If you're lucky, you'll be out of here in a week."  
"What have you done with captain Levi?" Erwin asked, glaring at him icily.  
"The little guy's alright, he's awake now", the thug leader stated. "He's got a little headache, but don't worry, he's fine."

* * *

"We have to go after them!" Eren yelled, eyes burning with green fury. Mikasa was calm, as usual, but stood confidently next to Eren. Hanji rolled her eyes - wherever the titan boy was going, so was his sister.  
Her leg was all bandaged up, but there was still a constant ache present in the whole leg. Hanji grimaced, trying not to move her wounded part. The rest of the group had found their horses not too long ago. It had taken them several hours, and during that time it had become dark.  
"We have no weapons", Hanji reminded him, her dark thoughts pouring into her tone of voice. "No gear. Nothing to fight them with. There's at least as many of them as us."  
"So?" Eren growled. "We're trained soldiers. We can take them! We just need to plan how to get our weapons back, and we'll take them out easily!"  
"Eren", Mikasa said quietly. "Calm down."  
"No!" the boy turned around to face his sister. "We need to rescue them, now!"  
"It's getting too dark", Jean said, glancing up at the sky. "And the temperature is dropping. We need to make camp for tonight."  
The others seemed to agree. Eren looked furious and ended up stomping away angrily. Mikasa was left to stare after him.  
"Hey", Hanji said quietly, and the girl turned her head. "He just needs to cool his head off. He'll come back soon."  
Mikasa looked nervous but nodded. "Of course." She blinked her narrow, dark eyes before continuing with a question.  
"Are we going to make a rescue attempt?"  
Hanji sighed, taking a better position against the tree she was leaning on. "It's very risky, but Eren has a point. We should try. It's possible if we plan it well."  
Mikasa nodded. "I see."  
"Help the others to make the camp, will you", the squad leader suggested, and the young soldier saluted, kneeling in front of the pile of sticks that her squad members had managed to gather.  
Hanji grimaced as pain surged through her leg, and she grabbed it gently. She hoped that Erwin and Levi were alright. She truly hoped.

* * *

The guards had been standing around him for at least three hours now. Levi couldn't tell - it was hard to say how much time had passed within the suffocating concrete room, but judging how sore his neck- and shoulder muscles were, he'd been there a long time.  
It was just enough time for the guards to get sloppy. Their eyes were wandering, and their guns were hanging on their hands half-heartedly. It was time for Levi to make his move.  
 _This is going to suck so much_. He took a deep, silent breath.  
The captain pushed himself violently, making the chair fall backwards. He squeezed his eyes shut and placed his left hand straight under the back of the chair, leaning heavily on his left side. He'd have to hit the hand directly and leave his right hand unharmed. Otherwise, this was useless.  
The chair connected with the floor with a loud bang and crushed his hand, letting out a sickening crunch. Levi grunted in pain, but immediately pushed the pain to the back of his mind. He didn't have time to think about it right now.  
The guards started yelling - Levi rolled to his side and yanked his injured hand free from the cuffs - he then tackled down the first thug that was sprinting towards him, and quickly grabbed his gun. The captain crouched up and placed a neat shot in the middle of one of the guards' brows. Levi squinted, deciding not to put a bullet into the guy he was holding down just yet (he didn't fancy getting all that blood on himself) and instead leapt away from him, placing a hard kick on his head. Levi dodged the third guard's attempts of knifing him and punched the kicked the fourth one in the stomach with a neat roundhouse kick.  
Levi raised his pistol, shooting the thug with the knife in the middle of his spine. The man fell down with his whole body twitching sickeningly. He flipped around and barely managed to dodge the punch from the fourth guard, who had a viciously angry look on his face. The thug raised his gun, but Levi was faster. The captain's bullet connected with the thug's chest, piercing his heart.  
The vicious look faded as he slowly fell to his knees, and then face first into the ground. The captain sniffed, throwing one last glance towards the only alive guard left. He heard footsteps approaching, and some sharp yells. The gunshots had been heard. Levi kicked the first guard on the head one last time before quickly picking up the knife and shoving it under his belt.  
The captain was well aware of the painful thumping of his hand, but he had no choice but to ignore it for now. Levi pushed the door open and ended up in a long, concrete corridor. It was a type of bunker, had to be. There weren't many of them within the walls, but he knew that most of them were used for storing firepower and weapons. Apparently, these thugs had discovered one of the abandoned ones.  
The captain ran out of sight just in time. He tried to remain as quiet as possible, every sense wired up to the maximum. Levi heard the men spreading out and heard the footsteps closing in. They would find him unless he did something. The captain ran as fast as he quietly could, and hid inside the nearest room he found. This one he'd have to do stealthily.

* * *

Erwin had been left alone into the room. His guards had sprinted out, and he'd heard something about the "prisoner escaping."  
He smiled a little, spitting out the safety pin he'd been harbouring inside his mouth for the whole day. The commander had put it there during the time he was taking off his gear, quickly fished it out from his breast pocket. They had later checked all his pockets and emptied them from everything else.  
Erwin twisted his neck as far back as he could, dropping the pin down on his hands. He sighed in relief as he caught it, starting to work on opening the cuffs. He'd done this a lot during his soldier training; it used to be required from all the trainees back in his days.  
His brow furrowed in concentration as he twisted the pin. It took a few painful minutes until the lock finally made a clicking sound, and his hands got free.  
Erwin rubbed his wrists - it had been a little too long since he'd done this. It took way too long. He could still hear distant yells from somewhere from the concrete hallways. The man narrowed his eyes, sneaking out of the open door. There was no one in sight.  
 _Amateurs_ , he thought, starting to quietly walk to the opposite direction from which the voices were coming from. Some footsteps were also coming from top of him.  
 _There's a second floor? How big is this place?_  
Erwin took a turn to the right but was taken aback by one of the thugs, who looked just as surprised as he did.  
"Stop right the-" the man yelled, pulling out his gun, but he didn't have time to finish the sentence when Erwin punched him in the face, making him fall on his back. The commander grabbed the back of the man's head and hit it hard against the concrete.  
 _This one won't get up again._  
Erwin had an advantage. While the whole building was apparently chasing Levi, he had a good lead on the thugs. They didn't even know he had escaped yet. He had faith in Levi - the man was small, agile and unrivalled in combat. Levi would have to come to him. Meanwhile, Erwin could maybe find out what this organisation was all about.

* * *

Levi hid behind a corner. He held his breath as he heard the thug's footsteps coming closer. Calculating his attack, the captain let the thug come right next to him before he stuck his night straight through his throat. With a quick move, he covered the man's mouth from making any noise. The thug went limp very fast, and Levi let him slide down to the floor. He breathed heavily when the pain in his hand increased.  
 _I have to take out at least fifteen people, in stealth, with one hand._  
Levi rubbed his face with his uninjured hand. _Fuck. Here I come, shitwheenies._  
He took a deep breath before getting up, pushing the pain that was radiating from his hand into the back of his mind. He'd need to be quieter than ever before - these walls duplicated every sound and made it echo in the hallways probably to the other side of the building.  
The captain sneaked to peek from behind the corner, praying that his leather boots wouldn't make a noise. He saw two thugs walking to the opposite direction in the hallway, and a third joined them soon. They all looked to be well armed and moved with a quick pace. Levi squinted, biting his bottom lip. Then he quickly sneaked to the nearest room, ducking to safety right before the thug closest to him laid their eyes on him. Levi let out a soundless breath of relief and waited behind the door until the footsteps on the other side of the wall continued forward. The captain peeked carefully into the corridor and saw the other two thugs disappear behind the next corner.  
 _Time to move_. Levi surged forward, and with a deadly speed he pierced the thug's throat, pressing his hand tightly on the man's mouth. Blood poured out with force, and he wrinkled his nose as the warm liquid smudged his fingers. The man fell limp so fast that he almost ended falling entirely - that would have made way too much noise. Levi dragged the thug towards the room he'd just used as a hiding place and hid him behind the door.  
 _Two down._  
"Peter?" someone asked, footsteps approaching. Levi stiffened - the floor was covered in blood, his presence would be revealed in seconds. _Fuck._  
The captain bolted it out of the room, pressing his back against the concrete. The thug turned from the corner, and he didn't even know what hit him. The man's face went pale as a sheet as blood poured out of his slit throat. Levi caught him before he fell to the ground, and held in a scream of pain when the thug's arm hit his injured hand.  
As he dragged another body to the room (that was apparently used for interrogation, judging by the weird and painful-looking instruments that were hanging on the walls) and quickly backed out from there, he was suddenly caught off guard by a sharp yell.  
"Over here!"  
Levi's alarm bells went off as he realised he'd been seen, and a thug on his right raised his rifle and opened fire.  
The captain heard more yells and more footsteps, as he took cover from the interrogation room. Levi frowned, things like 'fuck' and 'shit' flashing through his mind, and grabbed one of the knives he'd managed to get off from the thug's he'd killed. The captain had always been the best with knives. Back in the Underground City, a knife was all he needed to defend himself. And his aim was deadly.  
Levi flipped the knife in his healthy hand as the thug stopped firing to reload. He would move to take cover from behind the corner immediately, which would mean he was now right about-  
 _There_.  
The knife left his hand with a killing speed, flashing in the air, and connecting with the thug's carotid artery.  
Levi knew he now had about five seconds to get another temporary hiding place before he'd be seen. Luckily the place was such a maze that there were plenty of rooms for him to use.  
Assuming they were all unlocked.

* * *

Erwin's back was against the cold concrete. He'd heard more gunshots from upstairs, and couldn't help the fact that despite his earlier assumptions about Levi's safety, his mind was filling with worry.  
 _I have to go help him. We have a higher chance of getting out of here, if we're together._  
The commander made a decision, starting to work on locating the stairs that would lead him to the next floor. It didn't take long - but instead of stairs, it was more like a metal ladder. Erwin pulled himself up, carefully peeking to the next floor. He had to quickly slid through and kneel down as he saw a man approaching. It was a brutish-looking thug, whose arms reminded Erwin of heavy tree trunks. The commander held his breath as the thug arrived at the ladder and started climbing down. He saw the escaped prisoner way too late, and Erwin hit him in the head with the back of a rifle that he'd stolen from another thug.  
The man's greasy face took a dizzy expression, as he started falling backwards. The noise from the impact was louder than he'd expected, and he grimaced slightly. He was alarmed by sharp yells and quick footsteps that seemed to be approaching his spot.  
 _They heard me. Possibly think I'm Levi._  
Erwin saw a door ajar to his left and quickly made his way towards it. Levi would probably try to take out the thugs one by one and avoid fighting with guns. They made noise. Levi would want to be stealthy.  
The commander flinched at a sudden yell that suddenly came from not too far away. One of the thugs climbed up the ladder, alarming his friends:  
"The other one's escaped, too! Shoot to kill!"  
"Copy that!"  
Erwin closed his eyes, listening to the footsteps. He ignored even the thumping noise of his own heart, focusing on nothing else.  
 _Five. Five people behind that corner_. The hallway he was on was wider than the others, and he suspected it to be the main hallway. The commander stiffened as the group of thugs approached his hiding room.  
 _They're going to find me._  
Erwin clenched his fists, peeking out just enough to see the men. Five - he wasn't mistaken. Carefully calculating their position, and then looking up at the oil lamps hanging from the roof, he pulled back, taking a deep breath.  
The commander kicked the door open, aiming sharply to the left, away from the thugs, to shoot out the nearest lamp, and then to the right to take out the light right on top of the men.  
The corridor was cloaked in darkness, and he heard alarmed yells and barked orders as the thugs opened fire. Erwin pushed his back against the wall and kept his eyes closed, holding onto the mental image of the thugs' positions.  
 _The one-eyed man, three steps to the right. Now two steps to the back. His disability makes him afraid_. Erwin raised his gun, fired, and heard a distorted scream and a loud thud.  
"Ron!" someone yelled.  
 _The man with the green scarf on his face, five steps behind, crouching down. He was tall, so it's safe to assume his head is now-_  
 _There._  
Erwin's bullet hit its target, and another one hit the ground. Sudden screams pierced the air as the firing stopped. The commander stiffened, opening his eyes to the blackness. The screams had died, and guns were no longer fired. He heard faint running footsteps from the floor below and some indistinct voices. More were coming.  
"Erwin?" a quiet voice asked.  
The commander recognised Levi's dark, smooth voice. He stepped out from his cover, barely seeing anything ahead of him, but was positive that he was able to make out the captain's short features in the dark. He picked up something from the ground, and it looked as if he was taking something from the bodies, too. Knives, probably.  
"We gotta move", Levi grunted, bolting to the opposite direction than the ladder. "There's another way down over here, I saw."  
"Right", Erwin murmured. "How'd you escape? Did you have a pin, too?"  
"Unfortunately, no", Levi replied coolly, crouching down and peeking from behind a corner. "I broke my hand."  
The commander nodded - it was a good call from the captain. Better than staying as a prisoner. He grimaced when taking a look at his comrade's twisted, bruised hand.  
Erwin couldn't help but admire Levi's agile movements and soundless footsteps. The commander was a larger and heavier man, and even though he was more than capable of being a stealthy soldier, he was no match for the captain.  
"There", Levi whispered, nodding towards another ladder. The small man dropped through, landing elegantly on his feet, pressing his injured hand against his chest. Erwin followed through, and the two looked around to try and locate their position.  
The commander frowned. There was a door a few feet away from them - and it was guarded. The thug that was guarding it was circling around, and it was pure luck that he hadn't seen them.  
"That's probably where their leader is", he mouthed. Levi glanced over his shoulder, frowning.  
"How do we get there?" he whispered back.  
Erwin was about to answer when the hallway suddenly echoed with a voice.  
"You can't hide forever!" someone yelled.  
 _He's close._  
"You're trapped in here with us! There's no way out."  
Levi's eyes narrowed, and Erwin glanced at him with a warning look. The thug came closer, passing the guard in front of the room they were going to enter.  
 _Closer._  
The two pressed their backs against the wall.  
 _Closer._  
Erwin held his breath.  
 _Almost there._  
He blinked.  
 _Now._  
Erwin grabbed the man, pressing his hand on his mouth and squeezing his nostrils shut. Levi held down his squirming limbs and looked coldly in his eyes.  
"We're not trapped in here with you", the captain whispered in his ear. "You are trapped in here with us."

* * *

Levi's knife hit the guarding thug in the middle of his chest. He fell down, crying out and watching in panic as the wound spilt more blood on his front. His gun fell to the ground, and the captain marched up to him, pulling the knife out and slitting his throat in the process.  
Erwin loaded his gun, and they both pressed against the wall when Levi opened the door. He pulled his hand to safety just in time when the door frame was riddled with bullets. Levi raised his hands to his ears and glanced at Erwin, who had done the same.  
The gunfire stopped for a moment, and Erwin reached out to fire back, and Levi took a glance inside. The leader of the thugs was standing behind four others, all heavily armed.  
"There's no way we're getting through that", he yelled at the commander.  
Erwin glanced up. "Did you see the hatch in the ceiling?"  
Levi raised his eyebrows and grimaced as the gunfire started again.  
"No", he mouthed. The tall man nodded to his right. "There must be some other way in", Erwin yelled. "Go find it. I'm staying here, and I go in the minute I hear fighting."  
Levi stayed still for a few seconds, staring at Erwin with disbelief. "Seriously? Okay."  
The captain murmured something about dickweeds and fuckberries before he turned around and started running to the opposite direction.  
The hatch was probably used for escaping if it came down to it. That would mean there was most likely some ladder there as well. Levi's heart jumped up to his throat when a vicious roar caught him off by surprise, and the air was knocked out of his lungs as a large thug tackled him down and fell on top of him with all his weight. Levi couldn't stop the short scream that escaped his mouth as his broken hand was crushed again under the thug's knee, and a flashing pain blinded him for a moment. Black spots danced in his vision, as the large man's elbows mangled his chest.  
There was blood running down from the thug's head, the captain noticed, and his small eyes had a crazed look in them. As Levi's vision started to blur, he could tell he wasn't far from unconsciousness.  
 _What do I do?_  
Levi knew that his best quality was his speed. He was faster than anyone else, and even though his body was smaller in size than pretty much every other soldier, he was still called the humanity's strongest. In a situation like this, he was at a clear disadvantage, and he needed to change that. The captain glanced right, reaching out with his free hand. Levi's fingers wrapped around the hilt of one of the knives he'd collected and plunged it into the man's muscular neck. The blade sunk into his flesh all the way, and Levi closed his eyes in disgust, as the man's blood started to shower down out of the wound and on his face. The thug's massive, tree-like body went limp on top of his and Levi's lungs seemed to crush. With great effort, he managed to push the man's body off of him, and he was left lying on the floor on his own.  
Levi proceeded to have a brutal episode of coughing and panting to catch his breath. He slowly raised his strong hand to wipe away the sticky, red blood that was covering his face. The captain grimaced in disgust and took a reluctant look at his side. Two of his hand's metacarpal bones had definitely fractured, but one of them had pushed its way to the surface, and he could see the white bone that was visibly sticking out of his hand.  
"Fascinating", he stated to himself, ignoring the thumping pain that was radiating from his hand to the whole arm. Levi tried to get up but ended up having another violent coughing fit. For a few seconds, he just sat there, breathing.  
 _Come on, Levi,_ he thought, grimacing. _You're a big boy. Suck it up. Get the fuck up and go slaughter those sissies._  
The captain forced himself to his feet and immediately started swaying. The floor began to swim in front of his eyes, and he got a sudden surge of nausea. Levi leaned against the wall, barely holding in the dinner he'd eaten ages ago. The captain's head was killing him, and he tried not to think about the hand at all.  
"Okay", he grimaced. "Okay. It's fine. I'm fine, I'm good."  
With a grunt, he started to stumble towards the ladder that would take him to the upper floor.

Levi stared at the hatch. It had taken him ten minutes to find it - it was exactly what Erwin had anticipated it to be. This was their escape route - their last resort.  
"Tch", he scoffed, opening it slowly. It didn't make much noise at all, but it didn't matter. There was still an occasional gunshot from the room below.  
 _Erwin is still holding them_.  
Levi took a deep breath in and out - he was no longer dizzy and could breathe normally again, even though he could tell that his chest would have ugly bruises for the next few weeks and his hand had probably suffered permanent damage.  
The captain was small. He'd fit through the hatch easily. In this situation, the only option was to put one of the knives between his teeth - even though the thought made him flinch with disgust. Who knows where this blade had been?  
 _Germs._  
Reluctantly and with deep disgust he bit down to the metal, and with his healthy hand, he grabbed the edge of the hatch. He bent his knees, leaving him to hang freely from the ceiling, upside down.  
The men were all staring towards the door, muskets and rifles and shotguns all raised. Their leader was standing back, a revolver in his hand. They had no idea about Levi's presence.  
The captain moved slowly, grabbing the knife from his mouth. He was just in the right range to plunge the blade to the leader's artery.  
He raised his hand and was about to land the killing blow when a sharp scream made his blood run cold. Levi looked up and saw a man staring down on him from the hatch, eyes wild. It was the man with the cigarettes, the spy - who knows what he'd been up to until now. The man raised his hand and hit it down with force, burying his knife in Levi's lower thigh.  
He let out a pained grunt, and his eyes widened in shock as he fell down, neck and shoulders first. Levi connected with the ground, and for a moment he saw stars. Erwin had heard the commotion and opened fire, which the captain was thankful for. He grimaced, and with a pained growl he pulled out the knife from his leg and rolled away from the thugs who began to slash their knives at him. Erwin managed to take out two of them.  
 _Four left_ , Levi thought, jumping on his feet and making sure not to put too much strain on his now-injured leg. He threw the smoker's knife towards the nearest enemy, and it buried itself in his neck. The thug fell down squirming. The captain grabbed another and rolled away from the leader, who started firing his pistol at him. Levi surged away from them, and that's when Erwin's bullets became the bigger threat for the thugs. They focused on exchanging fire when Levi tried to fight against vertigo.  
Erwin ran inside, throwing aside the gun that was now empty. The leader of the thugs raised his pistol, ready to blow the commander's head off but Levi threw a well-aimed knife at his hand. He yelped as the blade sank into the back of his hand. Erwin hit a mean right hook on the smoker's face, who had decided to join the party.  
Levi tackled down the one remaining guard and forced him to the ground. With a quick turn he wrapped his healthy hand around the man's head, and with the help of his arm and leg, he managed to inflict enough power to snap the man's neck.  
"Freeze right there, captain", an unctuous voice commanded. Levi raised his head, releasing his hold on the dead thug.  
The leader's arm was wrapped around Erwin's neck, and his hand was hovering threateningly over the commander's chest. Levi let out a defeated sigh, slowly raising his tired arms in a sign of surrender. The smoker had a triumphant look on his face as he stomped towards the captain.  
Erwin's icy blue eyes suddenly turned to stare Levi with a knowing look. The smaller man blinked in confusion, as the commander's eyes moved to look at the gun over his chest, and then at the man who was holding it. Erwin's hands twitched ever so slightly, but Levi noticed it nevertheless. Realization hit him.  
The captain arched a brow.  
 _Really?_  
The commander blinked.  
"Aim for the head, you moron", Erwin growled, grabbing the gun that was pressed down against his front and pulled the trigger. A gunshot echoed in the concrete room as the bullet pierced Erwin's shoulder and bedded itself in the thug leader's heart. Erwin fell to his knees with a shaky breath, and Levi swung around to kick down the smoker, who was already about to grab his injured hand.  
The captain pulled out his last knife and surged it through the thug's throat. A few gurgling sounds left his mouth before the man grew still, and his eyes glazed over to stare at the ceiling.  
Levi rolled over, grimacing. His body was aching all over.  
"Nice", he stated, nodding towards Erwin who was leaning against the wall, opposite of him.  
"Yeah", the tall man answered, panting. "Not so bad yourself."  
Levi lay down, and suddenly he did something he hadn't done in thirteen years.  
He laughed.  
It was a quiet, relieved laugh that didn't really make sense, and for some unexplained reason, Erwin joined him. It was a way for them to relieve the unimaginable stress that they'd been under for the past hours. It was a laughter of disbelief and amazement that they'd actually managed to pull that off. It was stupid giggling, but boy it felt good.  
And there they stayed, dried blood on their face, just laughing, even if it was just a little while.

Erwin had discovered a med-pack from the same room where the miracle had happened and had used it to give some first aid for both himself and Levi. The captain's hand looked absolutely disgusting, and his thigh was bleeding badly. Both of them felt dizzy and had just decided to take a seat outside. The building was just a lump of concrete in the middle of nowhere - one of the old storage units, had to be. Erwin and Levi had discovered the carriage that had been used to haul their 3DMG to the location, but unfortunately, the gear had already been unloaded, and the two felt themselves to be quite exhausted, deciding to leave the rest of the bodily work for others.  
Levi had made a discovery of his own. He had decided to take the pack of cigarettes from the smoker thug and also found some booze from the lower floor.  
"Cheers", he stated with a grimace, as he took a seat on the steps in front of the building. Erwin leaned his head to the railing. They both had their Survey Corps jackets hanging loosely over their shoulders, arms weren't even in the sleeves, but it was enough to keep them warm. Both were still a little bit out of breath.  
"Give me that", he grunted, when Levi had taken a sip.  
"Tastes like horse piss", the captain stated. Erwin took a proper gulp, and almost started coughing.  
"Ugh, that's foul", he wrinkled his nose, placing the bottle on the stairs.  
"There's this, too", the captain frowned, giving him another bottle. It was whiskey. Erwin smelled it suspiciously, then decided 'what the hell' and took a sip. He tasted it on his tongue for a few seconds, smacking his lips.  
"Not bad", he stated, offering the bottle back to Levi. The captain poured some on his throat and nodded with a satisfied look on his face. Then he took another. Erwin stole the bottle back, and Levi dug up the cigarettes.  
He used to smoke as a kid, but then he'd found out that it was disgusting, unhygienic and unhealthy and had stopped it. But right now he didn't give a rat's ass.  
Levi brought a cigarette between his lips and pulled out the matchbox from his pocket. He glanced at his injured hand, then back at the box.  
"Hey, Erwin, do you mind?" he mumbled, and the commander grabbed the matches. He lit the fire as Levi leaned closer. The man inhaled the smoke deep into his lungs and didn't give a shit how bad it was for him. He let out a pleased sigh and offered it to Erwin, who took it without a second thought.  
"Hey look", Levi nodded towards the forest. He could hear commotion and twigs snapping. Erwin passed the cigarette back to the captain, who brought it back to his lips.  
"What the hell?" a distant voice yelled from the forest. Levi recognised it to be Connie's.  
"Captain? Commander?" screamed another. _Sasha._  
Neither of them had the energy to move a muscle or answer, for that matter. Levi's squad appeared from the forest, Eren and Hanji in the lead. The look on the brat's face was a mixture of disbelief and 'what the fuck', but Hanji just grinned at them.  
"How nice of you to join us", Erwin grimaced at the woman.  
"Nice", stated Jean.  
"What happened? How did you escape?" asked Mikasa, eyeing at the bottles. "You're just sitting here, drinking, and… smoking."  
Levi grunted, bringing the cigarette back to his lips and inhaling entreatingly.  
"You look like hell, captain", Eren finally said, staring at the captain, eyeing at his injuries. "And what the shit did you do to your hand?  
Levi glared at him wearily. "Fuck you, Jaeger."

* * *

 **Jeez, congratulations, you managed to make me feel so guilty for not updating that I had to abandon everything else and just get this out there.  
So I guess it's been a while and I owe you guys a huge apology. I have not abandoned this fic, I promise, and I do intend to continue, especially because of my new-found inspiration. You won't have to wait for the next chapter for half a year :'D  
**

 **I simply got so many reviews on this fic and like five of the last ones have been like _please update please please_ and I just kind of finally squeezed it out. And the reviews have been really frequent, like how did you guys even find this fic? Has someone added it to a thread or some story compilation or something, because if so I'd love to know :o It would be so cool.  
**

 **So there, I hope you enjoyed it... maybe? ;_; I wanted to do a Levi-Erwin chapter, so... that's that. There are some references, too. I got the idea of _you're trapped in here with us_ from the series Supernatural, episode 12x9. And the part where Erwin shoots his shoulder in order to kill the bad guy is inspired from the ending of Die Hard 4 :D Don't hate me!  
**

 _ **Supergurkan:**_ **My dear, loyal Supergurkan. I'm so sorry I left you hanging like this. I'm happy that you enjoyed the story and I always love reading your comments, they make me smile so much (also, I know how church camping trips can be a bit of a bore, so I'm glad I could assist you on that;))**

 _ **Silver skys**_ **: Interesting? If you say so :D Cheers!** **  
**

 _ **Guests**_ **1 &2** **: So glad you found it fantastic, Guest 2 :3 I hope you both enjoy this one, too!**

 _ **Guest**_ **3: Your comment made me feel so good :3 Not many people realise that it's okay to take the time you need but I must say, I needed a kick to the butt. A wake up call. But your comment made me smile real hard, so thank you.** **  
**

 _ **Hyorinmaru Kills:**_ **I laughed my ass off when I saw your comment, no kidding xD Sorry for the cliffhanger, again!  
**

 _ **Guest**_ **4:** **I'm sorry, please love me. I hope you enjoyed this ;_;  
**

 ** _TearsForTheDead_ : No I have not abandoned the story, I will continue with and be more active with my updates from now on ;D I'm so glad to hear that my scribbles have brought up emotions, that means much to me. And I don't know how I come up with this stuff, it's random as fuck I know xD**


	8. Some Info

**Haha, I bet you thought it was an update...**

 **No. Guys, I'm gonna be honest with you - my life is a bloody wreck right now. The little free time I have, I can't seem to get over my writer's block.**

 **So it seems that the half-a-year promise might not hold. I honestly don't understand how months can fly by this fast... this has been the craziest spring ever. So I'm taking an** **official break** **from fanfiction writing. I don't mean to quit and I certainly won't discontinue this, but I honestly just need to properly recharge my batteries. I need to feel like updating isn't a burden or a task I must get done - I want to enjoy it and want it.**

 **I know you guys deserve better, and I'm so sorry for breaking my promise. I hope you understand. These aren't goodbyes; I hope I'll get back on my feet quickly. I just need to get up from the gutter, and that's gonna take a while.**

 **Until we meet again, guys.**

 **\- Yours truly**


	9. Everybody Dances with the Grim Reaper

_Death doesn't discriminate  
between the sinners  
and the saints  
It takes  
and it takes  
and it takes._

* * *

Levi narrowed his eyes under the bright sun. The ship was finally arriving at the port. And in front of his eyes, the innermost district of their small world - Wall Sina's eastern side, the Stohess District. The captain glanced back, eyeing at Eren, Armin, Hanji and commander Erwin, who were with him. The commander was immersed into reading a document written in an eye-soringly small font, and Levi turned his eyes back to the mass of people.  
These people… they lived in a lulling sense of safety, no fear of titans. They were safe here. Military Police patrols kept everything in order. Levi found himself to despise the MPs to some extent - only the ones with the highest skillset had a chance to apply to the Military Police. The people who could be the hope of humanity decided to go and live a dulling life like this - it sickened him.  
"Let's go", he murmured to the others as the ship made port. Erwin raised his eyes from the document, packing it to his satchel.  
They were here to make a statement on Eren's progress. Levi couldn't understand why the authorities had asked to bring Eren along. In his opinion, only Hanji should be enough. It was unusual but known to happen in rare cases.  
Most likely the royalty and the Military Police wanted to keep track of Eren's condition in other ways than Hanji's report. Apparently, trust issues were a thing between the authorities, and Hanji's word wasn't enough.  
Levi sighed - at least it was warm. Their thick, green cloaks were not needed under the sunlight.  
"We'll be staying at a separate building, that doesn't belong to the military", Erwin explained. "It's not far from the port, just by the marketplace. We'll have a nice view from the top floor."  
"Fascinating", Levi muttered. He was bothered by how different the people here looked like. They eyed at the Survey Corps logos funnily, whispering behind their backs.  
"Is that captain Levi?" he heard someone say, a bit too loudly and somebody sushed him. The captain kept his posture but glanced at the voice's direction. It was a small kid, couldn't have been older than seven. His mother was dragging the reluctant boy in the opposite direction.  
"Come on, Henry."  
"Mom, those are Scouting Legion soldiers! That's so _cool_!"  
Levi blinked, turning his eyes back to the road. He had nothing but bad memories of this place. Unwillingly his eyes wandered to the rusty gate at the edge of the street, right by the marketplace. It looked like a black maw ready to swallow any child who wandered too close. Dusty, cracked stairs lead into the darkness.  
He knew that the Underground City had been unused for years. No people lived there anymore - the old ways had been "inhumane", according to some authorities. Levi agreed - he just wished that the people of the Underground had been let out earlier.  
Maybe then he, Farlan and Isabel would still be alive.  
Levi turned his eyes away, shaking the spider webs of the past off of his mind. That future had been lost a long time ago. He was humanity's strongest soldier, and his place was by Erwin's side, in the Survey Corps.  
"Here we are", the commander smiled as they arrived in front of a tower-like stone building. They stepped inside, and Levi was immediately impressed by how clean and well-maintained the place was. The first floor seemed to be a bar. The bartender was just rubbing some beer mugs with a rag, nodding respectfully at the arriving soldiers.  
"Woah", whispered Armin, and Eren said something back.  
A few people were sitting at the tables, but it seemed to be a quiet day in general.  
"We've been expecting your arrival", the bartender smiled politely. "My name is Fredrik Wagner." Erwin shook hands with him, and he took out a ring of keys from under the table.  
"Let me show you to your rooms", he smiled.

* * *

"This is kind of exciting", Eren grinned as he and Armin were shown to their rooms.  
"Yes, it is!" Armin replied with bright eyes. "It's a shame Mikasa couldn't come, though."  
"Yeah."  
Mikasa wasn't happy to find out about Eren going to Wall Sina without her, but she seemed to be a little bit under the weather, coughing a lot and having a low fever. Hanji didn't let her come.  
"Mikasa's going to kill me if something happens to you", Armin sighed. "You better stay out of trouble."  
"I'll do my best", Eren smirked back.  
There was a knock on their door. "Are you two ready?" Levi's quiet voice asked from the other side.  
"Yeah, coming, captain!"

* * *

Eren's part on the whole deal was very small. He only needed to show up, the adults stared at him for a while, and then he was dismissed. He and Armin sat outside as Erwin, Hanji and Levi still talked with the Military Police high-ranks.  
The word of their arrival to the city had travelled faster than a wildfire. Eren glanced at the people that were standing outside the nearest pub. Some were too drunk to make clear conversation ("Isn't it too early to drink?") but some were just enjoying their drinks in peace.  
Eren blinked, getting a hazy realization of the fact that he had completely forgotten what normal life was like. What his life was like before the military before he became a titan-shifting oddity. These people were still living that life - these people's lives hadn't been ruined by a titan breakout, their loved ones were alive or died by natural circumstances… they hadn't suffered loss.  
"We're done here", came captain Levi's sudden voice from behind them. "Let's get back to the tower."  
"Where are Hanji and Erwin?" asked Armin with a frown.  
"They had some other business to attend", Levi replied. "But we're free to go. We have plenty of time to do something if we feel like it."  
"Like… free time?" Eren frowned.  
"Yeah", Levi murmured. "Weird, huh?"  
"Very", Armin stated. "Well, we should go change to civilian clothes anyway. We're not on duty, and it feels weird when people stare at us."  
Eren glanced at his friend. Being a titan shifter, he had gotten used to the long looks. Back at the HQ, everyone knew who he was, even though he knew barely anyone outside of his own squad. He didn't really have too many chances to socialize.  
"Let's move then", Levi muttered, throwing a dark glance towards the entrance of the Underground. Eren remembered the fight with Annie, that had destroyed a large part of the Capital - including some of the original Underground City entrances.  
He also noticed the hard gleam in the captain's eye - he had learned to read Levi's stone-faced expressions surprisingly well. As they made their way towards the tower, they were followed by constant whispers and interested, awed looks.  
Eren thought about what it had felt like to see soldiers back when he was a kid. Each of them carried themselves with a fighter's posture, eyes hardened by the things they'd seen - they were heroes, who had survived to live another day.  
And here he was, one of those survivors.

* * *

Levi was alone in the room until Eren and Armin knocked on his door. He had changed into comfortable black pants and a loose, collared white shirt and a black vest.  
The windows of the room were huge, and he'd ended up opening one and seating by the ledge. The captain was sipping from a cup of tea, looking down at the people.  
"Hey, captain, may we join you?" asked Eren.  
"Sure."  
The boys slipped in, and Armin started preparing cocoa for him and Eren. The shifter walked up to the window and looked down.  
"This is much higher than I thought."  
Levi hummed absentmindedly, taking another sip of his tea. Eren sat on the other side of the window ledge, pulling his legs to his chest - the same way Levi had done.  
"Here's your cocoa, Eren", Armin's voice announced, bringing the steaming mug to him. The boy looked down and flinched.  
"That's really dangerous, you know. If you fell from this height, you would break your legs - maybe even die!"  
Levi glanced at Armin, humoured. "We won't fall."  
"Okay, but be careful", the boy frowned back, seating by the armchair in the corner and pulling out a thick book.  
A warm wind blew on their faces from the outside, and Levi breathed in deep. Some kids were playing right by the edge of the marketplace, and they drew his attention. He could hear their loud conversation and high voices.  
"Why do you get to be captain Levi every time? I don't want to be commander Smith!"  
"You're blond, you can't be captain Levi", the other one argued. "Besides, I'm shorter."  
"That's not fair!" cried the other one.  
"Okay, don't start crying, please… you can be the captain this time."  
"Really?" the kid's voice suddenly grew an octave higher.  
"Yes, really. I'll be the commander."  
"Awesome!"  
The kids then proceeded to go and fight the imaginary titans, slashing the air with a few sticks they'd picked up from somewhere, pretending they were blades.  
Eren chuckled at them, and Levi sniffed.  
"Doesn't it feel weird, captain?" the boy asked. "Seeing kids playing to be you?"  
Levi glanced at him slowly. "I don't know. Haven't thought about it that much." He looked back down.  
"I hope I'll earn that kind of respect one day", Eren said quietly smiling. The captain didn't reply, and they were in silence for a moment.  
"What kind of tea is that?" asked Eren with a frown. "It smells weird."  
Levi turned his head and glanced into the cup. "It's green tea - the only kind they had in the locker. Tastes like piss if you ask me", he stated while taking another sip.  
"To me, all tea tastes like piss, captain", Eren's nose wrinkled and he downed a large gulp of his cocoa.  
Levi narrowed his eyes. "Obviously - you're slurping that damn syrup down your throat."  
"No", Eren blinked, drinking calmly. "This is heavenly."  
"I wouldn't drink that voluntarily", the captain muttered. "It looks like a cat took a really slumpy shit in your mug."  
Eren frowned, looking inside his cup. "That's disgusting, captain. It doesn't look like that. And you're drinking leaf water."  
"Leaf water?" Levi repeated, almost insulted. "Listen up, brat. First of all, tea is healthy - it contains antioxidants that repair cells and prevent sickness."  
Eren took a better position, leaning his chin on his knee while straightening the other one to hang outside the window.  
"Second, tea contains caffeine. Allows me to get by with very little sleep. Third", Levi drank his cup empty. "there are hundreds of different combinations you can make of tea in order to get the exact flavour you want."  
Eren stared at him. "The only thing I've learned so far is that you clearly have a crippling addiction to tea."  
Levi shook his head. "You're hopeless." The captain jumped down from the window ledge, heading towards the table where his tea kettle was.  
Eren jumped down as well, sitting next to Armin. The shifter began to go through the board games that were sorted in a small pile in the nearby cabinet.  
Levi's eyes landed on Armin and his concentrated face. His blue eyes moved steadily over the pages.  
"What are you reading there, Armin?"  
Eren's head popped up. "No, don't-"  
Armin, however, had already looked up with a new kind of glimmer in the corner of his eyes. "I'm glad you asked!"  
Levi stared at the boy and she proceeded to go into detail about the story and it's inner meanings, how it's the fifth time he's read it, and how the protagonist's characterization is a true literary masterpiece.  
The captain's mouth was slightly open. "I'm so sorry", he stated suddenly, stopping Armin.  
The boy frowned. "Why?"  
"For asking", Levi breathed back, walking back to the window.  
Eren choked back a burst of laughter. Armin shook his head, muttering something about how people never understood the beauty of great literature and went back to reading.  
"Oi, brats", Levi hollered. "You feel like going down to the bar for a visit?"  
Armin and Eren both seemed to tense. "But… we've never drunk alcohol before."  
The short man frowned. How old were these brats again? "I'm sure one glass is fine."  
The boys looked at each other, uncertain. Eren shrugged. "Sure thing, then."

In a moment's time, the three had set up in a corner table at the bar, that had somehow filled. Eren sipped his cider, smacking his lips as the sweet liquid made his mouth feel sticky. Levi was holding a glass of wine, sipping it elegantly.  
Armin was shuffling a deck of normal, age-old playing cards. "Is it okay if we'll play the Seven of Clubs? My grandpa taught it to me when I was little…"  
A shadow passed over his eyes, but it was gone in a blink.  
"I'll pass", Levi replied dryly.  
"Oh, come on, captain", persuaded Eren. "Don't be like that."  
Levi narrowed his eyes, slurping his wine but saying nothing.  
"Yeah, it'll be fun", Armin added with a smile. Levi sighed.  
"Fine, I guess I'll play."  
Eren grinned. They were all familiar with the game, so Armin began to deal the cards.  
After the 52-card deck had been shared between them, they all started to sort the hand they had. Eren frowned slightly at his cards.  
Levi sighed, slapping the seven of hearts to the table. The game had begun.  
It ended up being surprisingly competitive. Armin planned his every move, analyzing the two others' movements. Levi didn't seem to put in much of an effort, leaning comfortably back in his chair.  
The game ended with Armin's win - he won the game by harbouring the eight of spades till the very last moment. After the game was over, Levi yawned and announced he would go and take a leak.  
Armin and Eren were left alone in the table.  
"It feels really weird", the blond boy whispered after the captain disappeared from their sight. "You know, hanging out with captain Levi like this."  
Eren frowned, shrugging. "A little, I guess. It's fun, though."  
"No argument there", Armin stated, wrinkling his nose at the stench of alcohol that was rising from his glass.  
A group of very loud, young men stumbled into the bar, already notably drunk. The bartender looked at them with a bad eye.  
"I think you boys might have had enough already", the man stated.  
"Oh, come on", one of them complained. The few boys at the front began arguing with the bartender, while the ones at the back of the group were immersed into a conversation - their topic happened to be the Survey Corps. Eren couldn't help but overhear.  
"You know", one of them slurred. "I heard that captain Levi has survived this long only because he's so small the titans can't even see him!"  
For some reason, this was absolutely hilarious to the others and they all burst into a snotty laughter. Eren's blood boiled. Captain Levi was _humanity's strongest soldier_ , putting his life on the line to defend these walls from the everlasting threat, and yet these people _dared_ to mock him?  
Eren stood up.  
"Wait, Eren, don't get riled up, please, Mikasa is not here to help this time-"  
"What the _fuck_ did you just say?" Eren growled at the men. They turned around, their smiles widening.  
"What? Are you a Scouting Legion fanboy or something?"  
"You do not get to speak of captain Levi that way", Eren continued growling, anger threatening to overflow his senses.  
The men laughed, and Eren saw red. He punched the first guy in the jaw, and as the guy fell back, Eren's fist started surging with pain from the impact.  
"Oi! Quit it!" the bartender ordered, but it was too late. Few of the men began defending their buddy, who was rubbing his chin on the floor, while the others used the situation to steal something to drink from the other side of the counter.  
Eren kicked one of the guys to the nuts, and he doubled over with a tortured look in his face. The boy yelped as he was hit with a chair - it broke against his back and he fell down. Someone fell towards the nearest table, making each and every one of their drinks to fall down. Angry yells followed the new people joining into the fight.  
Eren grit his teeth, getting up from the floor and throwing himself against the nearest person, yelling furiously.  
"What the fuck is this?" captain Levi breathed as he appeared back, his eyes widened and expression aghast.  
Armin glanced at him with an anxious look. "Eren's just defending your honour, captain."  
"For fuck's sake", the captain sighed, looking tiredly into the mass of fighting people. "Eren!"  
The boy turned his head just as he was about to break someone's nose. "Hello, captain!" he yelled back, then proceeding to hit his opponent in the face.  
"Stop it!" Levi growled, grabbing the boy's shoulders and pulling him out of the rubble. Some poor man attempted to jump them, but the captain demonstrated his right hook to him, which caused him to fall unconscious to the floor.  
Eren was trying to struggle out of the captain's grasp, but with no avail. Levi marched him up the stairs to his room.  
"Stay here and let me handle this", Levi narrowed his eyes. "Armin, make sure he doesn't come back down."

* * *

Levi eventually managed to calm the fight down by using force and helping the bartender to throw the people out. There were numerous shattered glasses, windows and broken chairs. Splattered drinks were everywhere. The captain sighed, dragging a bucketful of soapy water and a mop to the scene.  
"Captain, you don't need to-"  
"I want to, Mr Wagner", Levi interrupted. "It bothers me to sleep in a dirty dump. I preferred when this place was nice and tidy."  
The man nodded, smiling. "In that case, thank you."  
Levi began mopping, and eventually, Armin and Eren joined him. According to Eren, he had done nothing wrong and it wasn't his fault. Levi rolled his eyes when the two boys began arguing.  
After fifteen minutes of cleaning, Hanji and Erwin arrived, wide-eyed and mouths opened.  
" _What happened_?" Erwin managed to push out after a small pause.  
"Don't ask", Levi replied grumpily.

* * *

The next morning their carriages arrived, ready to transport them back to the port. The last night's quarrel was mostly forgotten, and Levi had to admit he was sort of moved by Eren defending him so aggressively.  
"The boat ride will last about five hours, and we have carriages waiting for us to take us back to the HQ", Hanji stated. "I'll have plenty of time to look into this research."  
Levi sighed, leaning to the railing of the boat and looking down at the waves. Eren and Armin were doing the same, discussing something in cheery tones.  
Eren had bought a bracelet for Mikasa, and Levi thought that his gesture was actually adorable.

* * *

They made it to one hour without any complications, but then the ship stopped. Levi glanced lazily towards the docks and realised some alarmed people were pacing around at the port, waving instructions.  
The boat made port. Levi and Erwin glanced at each other.  
"It's probably technical difficulties or something", Eren stated.  
"If that were the case, those people wouldn't have asked us to stop. There's something else going on", muttered Armin.  
"Don't get hasty. I'm sure it's fine", Hanji yawned, leaning back in her chair.  
In that exact moment, one of the ship's crew members stepped inside, pale as a sheet.  
"I'm afraid the boat needs to be turned around. We are to return to Wall Sina immediately."  
Erwin stood up, and Levi narrowed his eyes.  
"Why? What is the meaning of this?" the commander's voice was hard.  
The man swallowed, eyes widened. "This side of Wall Maria has been closed off for now. A highly contagious epidemic has broken out, and it has already claimed lives."  
Silence fell over the people on the ship. Levi's heart had risen up to his throat.  
 _All of the Survey Corps personnel are in that zone this very moment_ , he thought. _My squad is in there._  
"The doctors of the area have begun to investigate the nature of the illness, and are doing their best to find a solution. What we know so far is that it travels fast."  
"So this side of Wall Maria is under quarantine?" Erwin sought for confirmation. There was a diamond-hard look in his eyes.  
"Yes, sir", came the shaky reply. "We'll be turning around shortly."  
The man disappeared out the door. Someone started crying, and people began to argue loudly.  
"Mikasa", Eren whispered. "Mikasa is in there. I need to get to her, she was sick already when we left…"  
"We can't", Levi said sharply. "This isn't something you can fight with swords. For now, there's nothing we can do."  
"This is bad", muttered Hanji. "This means that the entire Survey Corps is compromised."  
"Yes", Erwin confirmed darkly. "It's very bad."

* * *

Eren stared out the window. Last night he'd been sitting on the ledge right here, chatting with captain Levi and everything had been fine.  
Now? His insides were boiling with emotion and frustration. The news of the epidemic had spread quickly, and everybody seemed to be afraid to move outside anymore.  
Earlier that day they had gotten a confirmation that the illness travels through touch and spit. About fourty percent of the population inside the quarantined area had gotten compromised.  
Eren hadn't seen Erwin, Hanji or Levi much. They'd been occupied in some emergency meeting arranged by the government.  
Mikasa was in there. Eren's sister was one of the infected ones.  
So far, the disease had killed only very old and very young people - but the more time passed, the more dangerous it was becoming for everyone.  
How was Mikasa doing? She'd been one of the first to get sick. Eren was being ripped apart.  
He wished his father was still there. He could have saved those people - they just needed a good doctor.  
"Eren", the boy's head jerked up and he blinked in confusion as Levi walked to his room, eyes sweeping over the titan shifter's form.  
"Well? What's going on?" Eren asked, voice tight.  
Levi took his time to reply. "There's a possible cure."  
He almost took a breath of relief. "But?"  
"But", said Levi slowly, "The crucial part in making it is a plant called blood flower."  
Eren blinked, waiting for the captain to continue.  
"It doesn't grow inside the walls anymore", he said quietly. "According to Hanji, there are bloodflowers growing in the same forest where my old squad died."  
His voice was steady and calm, his posture composed, but Eren flinched and looked away. "Shit."  
"Yeah", sighed the captain. "We discussed options. One of them was that you and I go on a stealth mission to try and reach that forest."  
Eren's eyes widened. "Just the two of us? Outside the walls?"  
"Yep", Levi looked down. "All the ideas are desperate. We have very little options since there are exactly five members of the Survey Corps that aren't bedridden at the moment."  
The boy swallowed, nodding. "When will we hear their decision?"  
Levi shrugged. "Who the fuck knows. Where's Armin?"  
Eren played with his knuckles. "He's at the local library, burying himself under different medical books to try and find the solution."  
The captain scoffed. "There already is a solution. It's just an inconvenient one."

* * *

Two hours later Erwin and Hanji returned to them. Their expressions were grim and serious.  
"Levi, Eren", the commander started stiffly. "We have a plan that includes you two."  
The captain and the boy glanced at each other.  
"Spill it", Levi shrugged.  
"You two are to go on a highly risky special mission outside the walls", Hanji stated, pushing her glasses higher on the bridge of her nose. "You are the most likely to make it out alive."  
The captain nodded - he'd heard this part at the earlier gathering.  
"You'll start your mission by riding through Wall Maria's titan-infested lands - at this point, you'll still have the support of the Military Police. They'll keep the titans off of you while you head to the gate. They'll escort you out, basically", Hanji explained.  
"After that, you're on your own", added Erwin. "You'll have to be as stealthy as possible, avoid open areas and be silent."  
"Why just the two of us?" Eren asked stiffly. "Why aren't you coming?"  
"The fewer people, the better", Hanji replied. "The titans won't even notice you if you're discreet enough. The more people are going, the less likely it is you're get caught by titans."  
Levi glanced at Eren imperceptibly, watching the kid's reaction. His posture was stiff and he noticed the green fire of determination flickering in his large eyes.  
"I understand", Eren said with a stern voice.  
Hanji glanced at the captain. "Levi?"  
"Are you sure about this?" the short man asked, his voice low. He didn't usually question neither Erwin nor Hanji, but this time he couldn't contain his suspicion.  
"This is a high-risk operation with a capital 'H'", he added. Hanji and Erwin exchanged glances.  
"We know", the scientist said. "But unless we take action, we're going to lose the entire Survey Corps. A lot of people are going to die - too many."  
Levi closed his eyes for a moment, weighing her words.  
"We would come with you, but quite frankly we would slow you down", Erwin stated. "The two of you have the best chances of completing this quest."  
Levi sighed and glanced at Eren. "Well, brat, I guess we're going outside."

* * *

 ***crawls out of the dusty coffin and screeches at sunlight***

 **Heya people, long time no see... I'm so happy about the supportive comments you left for me, and I'm kinda glad people still remember the existaqnce of this fic... I wouldn't say my personal life is in any better condition, actually it's much worse mental health-wise and my finals are coming up in a month! I'm so scared haha.**

 **Anyway, take this chapter and enjoy it please. Part two is coming out in an unknown amount of time. The quote in the beginning was from a Hamilton song called "Wait for it."**

 **I've been constantly surprised by the amount of attention this fic has still gotten, despite it having been borderline abandoned for a year. I don't understand how you new people even found it.**

 **I'm glad you did though.**

 _ **Supergurkan**_ : **Thank you so much for understanding. I remember seeing your comment and being so relieved and happy. You've been following this fic from the start, and I hope you're still around. Much love.**

 ** _RennyBanette_ : Haha x) Thanks for the sympathies, and I sincerily hope you enjoyed the chapter.  
**

 ** _Guest_ : Thank you, hopefully your waiting was compensated for with this chapter.**

 ** _Linneanna_ : Thank you so much :3 It was your comment that actually got me to lift my ehad from the haze and update the fic again... so thanks for that. I hope you find the chapter enjoyable. **

**Thanks for all the new favoriters and followers of this fic. I love you all, and sorry for the wait once again. I hope I'll see you again soon.**


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